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I 


CITIES  OF  NORTHERN  AND 
CENTRAL  ITALY 


II 


IN  VENETIA,  PARMA,  THE   EJIILIA,  THE  MARCHE, 
AND  NORTHERN  TUSCANY 


I 


I 


CITIES  OF 
NORTHERN  AND  CENTRAL 
'  ITALY 


By  AUGUSTUS  J.  C.  HARE 

AUTHOR   OF   "walks   IN   ROME,"    "DAYS  NEAR   ROME,"   ETC. 


IN  THREE  VOLUMES 
II 

IN  VENETIA,  PARMA,  THE  EMILIA,  THE  MARCHE. 
AND  NORTHERN  TUSCANY 


LONDON 

DALDY,  ISBISTER  &  CO. 

56,  LUDGATE  HILL 

1876 

iTke  Right  of  Tratulatum  is  Reurved.l 


JOHN   CHILDS  AND  SON,   PBINTESS. 


CONTENTS. 


I 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

PACK 

VENICE.      THE  APPROACH I 

CHAPTER  XXn. 

s.  mark's  and  its  surroundings 13 

CHAPTER  XXni. 

THE   GRAND   CANAL 46 

CHAPTER  XXIV, 

SOUTH-EASTERN   VENICE 80 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

NORTH-EASTERN   VENICE lOI 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

WESTERN  VENICE II5 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE    GIUDECCA    AND     IL     REDENTORE,    S.     GIORGIO,     THE 

ARMENIAN   CONVENT,    S.   ELENA,    AND  THE   LIDO  .      I34 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

CHIOGGIA    -.         • i  i      140 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
MURANO  AND  TORCELLO .  .      I4S 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

TREVISO,    UDINE,    AND  AQUILEJA         .  .  .  .  .  .157 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
FERRARA 166 


vi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

PACK 
PIACENZA 185 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

PARMA 204 

CHAPTER  XXXIV 

S.EGGIO  AND   MODENA  .  « 23I 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

BOLOGNA 246 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

RAVENNA 295 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

FAENZA  AND   FORLI     .........     353 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

RIMINI  AND  S.    MARINO 363 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
PESARO  AND   FANG 385 

CHAPTER  XL. 
ANCONA 391 

CHAPTER  XLL 

LORETO  AND  THE  MARCHE  .......     401 

CHAPTER  XLII. 
URBINO 420 

CHAPTER  XUII. 

GUBBIO 432 

CHAPTER  XUV. 

nsA. 440 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

VOLTERRA 483 

CHAPTER  XLVL 
I.UCCA 490 

CHAPTER  XLVn. 
PISTOIA  AlfD  PRATO 507 


ICE. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
VENICE. 

THE   APPROACH. 

It  is  I  hr.  by  rail  from  Padua  to  Venice — 4  frs.  50  c.  :  3  frs.  25  c.  : 
2  frs.  30  c. 

{The  station  is  about  an  hour  in  a  gondola  from  the  Piazza  S.Marco, 
which  is  the  centre  of  Venetian  life.  A  gondola  with  one  gondolier 
costs  I  fr.,  each  piece  of  luggage  20  c.  extra. 

Hotels-  New  York,  a  large  new  hotel  well  situated  near  the  entrance 
of  the  Grand  Canal ;  Europa,  very  good ;  Bretagna, — all  these  are  in 
the  same  situation.  Vittoria,  on  one  of  the  side  canals,  good,  but  with 
terrible  smells.  Danieli,  Riva  degli  Schiavoni,  old-fashioned.  Inghil- 
terra,  Riva  degli  Schiavoni,  a  small  but  very  comfortable  house,  plea- 
sant and  sunny  in  winter  and  spring,  hot  in  summer. 

Restaurant.  Qiiadri,  Piazza  S.  Marco  (right),  excellent  for  lunch- 
eons if  you  are  in  a  hotel,  for  everything  if  in  lodgings. 

Caffe.     Florian  (left).  Piazza  S.  Marco.      Quadri  (right). 

Gondolas  (the  cabs  of  Venice)  cost  (with  one  gondolier  and  four  pas- 
sengers) I  fr.  the  first  hour,  and  \  fr.  for  each  hour  afterwards.  For  the 
whole  day  5^  frs. 

English  Church.     Close  to  the  Accademia,  on  the  right 

Photographer  —  celebrated  for  portraits  —  Ant.  Sorgato,  4674  Cam- 
piello  del  Vina  S.  Zaccaria,  behind  Hotel  d'Angleterre. 

Venetian  Jewellery.  The  street  near  the  Ponte  di  Rialto,  left  bank. 
It  should  be  known  that  almost  everything  bought  in  the  Piazza  S. 
Marco  costs  treble  the  price  asked  in  the  Frezzaria  and  other  less  fashion- 
able parts  of  the  town. 

Wood  Sculpture.  Travellers  should  visit  the  Atelier  (2795  Canal 
Grande)  of  Valentino  Besarel.  It  is  only  in  Italy  that  you  find  this  in- 
teresting type  of  the  untaught  artist  of  unerring  taste,  whose  art  is  the 
sole  object  and  interest  of  his  life.  He  is  a  native  of  Cadore,  where  his 
ancestors  were  carvers  of  wood  in  Titian's  time. 
VOL.    II.  I 


T 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 

HE  railway  from  Padua  to  Venice  crosses  a  flat  plain 
-I-  covered  with  vineyards,  whose  garlands  reach  almost 
to  the  edge  of  the  lagoons.  It  is  at  Mestre  that  all  the  in- 
terest begins.  Hence,  across  the  soft  grey  distances,  the 
towers  of  Venice  are  seen  on  the  horizon,  repeating  them- 
selves in  the  water.  Throughout  the  still  expanse,  poles 
rising  at  intervals  mark  the  "  pathways  in  the  sea."  In  the 
nearer  foreground  boats  with  great  red  and  yellow  sails  are 
finding  their  way  out  into  the  open  water  by  narrow  runlets 
through  the  tall  reeds. 

The  traveller  now  hurries  past  Mestre  ;  but  till  a  few  years 
ago  it  was  important,  as  the  place  where,  wearied  with  a  long 
journey  by  diligence  or  carriage,  he  embarked  for  Venice, 
while  gladdened  by  the  first  sight  of  the  promised  city. 

"  Not  but  that  the  aspect  of  the  city  itself  was  generally  the  source  of 
some  slight  disappointment,  for,  seen  in  this  direction,  its  buildings  are 
far  less  characteristic  than  those  of  the  other  great  towns  of  Italy  ;  but 
this  inferiority  was  partly  disguised  by  distance,  and  more  than  atoned 
for  by  the  strange  rising  of  its  walls  and  towers  out  of  the  midst,  as  it 
seemed,  of  the  deep  sea,  for  it  was  impossible  that  the  mind  or  the  eye 
could  at  once  comprehend  the  shallowness  of  the  vast  sheet  of  water 
which  stretched  away  'in  leagues  of  rippling  lustre  to  the  north  ami 
south,  or  trace  the  narrow  line  of  islets  bounding  it  to  the  east.  The 
salt  breeze,  the  white  moaning  sea-birds,  the  masses  of  black  weed 
separating  and  disappearing  gradually,  in  knots  of  heaving  shoal,  under 
the  advance  of  the  steady  tide,  all  proclaimed  it  to  be  indeed  the  ocean 
on  wliose  bosom  the  great  city  rested  so  calmly  ;  not  such  a  blue,  soft, 
lake-like  ocean  as  bathes  the  Neapolitan  promontories,  or  sleeps  beneath 
the  marble  rocks  of  Genoa,  but  a  sea  with  the  bleak  power  of  our 
northern  waves,  yet  subdued  into  a  strange  spacious  rest,  and  changed 
from  its  angry  pallor  into  a  field  of  burnished  gold,  as  the  sun  declined 
behind  the  belfiy  towers  of  the  lonely  island  church,  fitly  named  '  St. 
George  of  the  Sea-weed.'  As  the  boat  drew  nearer  to  the  city,  the  coast 
which  the  traveller  had  just  left  sank  behind  him  into  one  long,  low, 
sad-coloured  line,  tufted  irregularly  with  brushwood  and  willows  :  but, 
at  what  seemed  its  northern  extremity,  the  hills  of  Arqua  rose  in  a  dark 
cluster  of  purple  pyramids,  balanced  on  the  bright  mirage  of  the  lagoon, 


THE  LAGOONS.  3 

two  or  three  smooth  surges  of  inferior  hills  extended  themselves  about 
their  roots,  and  beyond  these,  beginning  with  the  craggy  peaks  above 
Vicenza,  the  chain  of  the  Alps  girded  the  whole  horizon  to  the  north — 
a  wall  of  jagged  blue,  here  and  there  showing  through  its  clefts  a  wilder- 
ness of  misty  precipices,  fading  far  back  into  the  recesses  of  Cadore, 
and  itself  rising  and  breaking  away  eastward,  when  the  sun  sti"uck  oppo- 
site upon  its  snow,  into  mighty  fragments  of  peaked  light,  standing  up 
behind  the  bars  of  clouds  of  evening,  one  after  another,  countless,  the 
crown  of  the  Adrian  Sea,  until  the  eye  turned  back  from  pursuing  them, 
to  rest  upon  the  nearer  burning  of  the  campaniles  of  Murano,  and  on  the 
great  city,  where  it  magnified  itself  along  the  waves,  as  the  quick  silent 
pacing  of  the  gondola  drew  nearer  and  nearer.  And  at  last,  when  its 
walls  were  reached,  and  the  outmost  of  its  untrodden  streets  was  entered, 
not  through  towered  gate  or  guarded  rampart,  but  as  a  deep  inlet  be- 
tween two  rocks  of  coral  in  the  Indian  sea  ;  where  first  upon  the  travel- 
ler's sight  opened  the  long  ranges  of  columned  palaces, ^each  with  its 
black  boat  moored  at  the  portal, — each  with  its  image  cast  down,  beneath 
its  feet,  upon  that  green  pavement  which  every  breeze  broke  into  new 
fantasies  of  rich  tessellation ;  when  first,  at  the  extremity  of  the 
bright  vista,  the  shadowy  Rialto  threw  its  colossal  curve  slowly  forth 
from  behind  the  palace  of  the  Camerlenghi ;  that  strange  curve,  so  deli- 
cate, so  adamantine,  strong  as  a  mountain  cavern,  graceful  as  a  bow 
just  bent ;  when  first,  before  its  moonlike  circumference  was  all  risen^ 
the  gondolier's  cry,  '  Ah  !  Stall,'  struck  sharp  upon  the  ear,  and  the 
prow  turned  aside  under  the  mighty  cornices  that  half  met  over  the 
narrow  canal,  where  the  plash  of  the  water  followed  close  and  loud, 
ringing  along  the  marble  by  the  boat's  side ;  and  when  at  last  that  boat 
darted  forth  upon  the  breadth  of  silver  sea,  across  which  the  front  of  the 
Ducal  palace,  flushed  with  its  sanguine  veins,  looks  to  the  snowy  dome 
of  Our  Lady  of  Salvation,  it  was  no  marvel  that  the  mind  should  be  so 
deeply  entranced  by  the  visionary  charm  of  a  scene  so  beautiful  and  so 
strange,  as  to  forget  the  darker  truths  of  its  history  and  its  being.  Well 
might  it  seem  that  such  a  city  had  owed  its  existence  rather  to  the  rod 
of  the  enchanter,  than  the  fear  of  the  fugitive  ;  that  the  waters  which 
encircled  her  had  been  chosen  for  the  mirror  of  her  state,  rather  than  the 
shelter  of  her  nakedness ;  and  that  all  which  in  nature  was  wild  or 
merciless, — Time  and  Decay,  as  well  as  the  waves  and  tempests, — had 
been  won  to  adorn  her  instead  of  to  destroy,  and  might  still  spare,  for 
ages  to  come,  that  beauty  which  seemed  to  have  fixed  for  its  throne  the 
sands  of  the  hour-glass  as  well  as  of  the  sea. " — Riiskin,  Stones  of  Venice. 

"  I  saw  from  out  the  wave  her  structures  rise 
As  from  the  stroke  of  the  enchanter's  wand  : 


4  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

A  thousand  years  their  cloudy  wings  expand 
Around  me,  and  a  dying  Glory  smiles 
O'er  the  far  times,  when  many  a  subject  land 
Look'd  to  the  winged  Lion's  marble  piles, 
Where  Venice  sate  in  state,  throned  on  her  hundred  isles  ! 

'  She  looks  a  sea  Cybele,  fresh  from  ocean, 
Rising  with  her  tiara  of  proud  towers 
At  airy  distance,  with  majestic  motion, 
A  ruler  of  the  waters  and  their  powers  : 
And  such  she  was  ; — her  daughters  had  their  dowers' 
From  spoils  of  nations,  and  the  exhaustless  East 
Pour'd  in  her  lap  all  gems  in  sparkling  showers. 
In  purple  was  she  robed,  and  of  her  feast 
Monarchs  partook,  and  deem'd  their  dignity  increas'd. 

"In  Venice  Tasso's  echoes  are  no  more, 
And  silent  rows  the  songless  gondolier  ; 
Her  palaces  are  crumbling  to  the  shore. 
And  music  meets  not  always  now  the  ear : 
Those  days  are  gone — but  Beauty  still  is  here. 
States  fall,  arts  fade — but  Nature  doth  not  die, 
Nor  yet  forget  how  Venice  once  was  dear, 
The  pleasant  place  of  all  festivity. 
The  revel  of  the  earth,  the  masque  of  Italy  !  " 

Byron,  Childe  Harold. 

Venice,  founded  c.  421,  owes  its  existence  to  the  panic 
inspired  by  the  destruction  of  Aquileia,  of  which  not  one 
stone  was  left  upon  another.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Altinum,  Concordia,  and  Padua  fled  before  the  barbarians, 
to  the  72  islands  which  had  formed  in  the  lagoons  of  the 
Adriatic,  and  there  they  built  a  town. 

"In  the  northern  angle  of  the  Adriatic  is  a  gulf,  called  lagune,  in 
which  more  than  sixty  islands  of  sand,  marsh,  and  seaweed  have  been 
formed  by  a  concurrence  of  natural  causes.  These  islands  have  become 
the  City  of  Venice,  which  has  lorded  it  over  Italy,  conquered  Constan- 
tinople, resisted  a  league  of  all  the  kings  of  Christendom,  long  carried 
on  the  commerce  of  the  world,  and  bequeathed  to  nations  the  model  of 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  VENICE.  5 

the  most  stable  government  ever  framed  by  man."  —  Daru,  Histoire  de 
la  Republique  de  Venise. 

"  It  was  for  no  idle  fancy  that  their  colonists  fled  to  these  islands  ;  it 
was  no  mere  whim  which  impelled  those  who  followed  to  combine  with 
them ;  necessity  taught  them  to  look  for  security  in  a  highly  disadvan- 
tageous situation,  which  after\vards  became  most  advantageous,  enduing 
them  with  talent,  when  the  whole  of  the  northern  world  was  immersed 
in  gloom.  Their  increase  and  their  wealth  were  the  necessary  conse- 
quence. New  dwellings  arose  close  against  dwellings,  rocks  took  the 
place  of  sand  and  marsh,  houses  sought  the  sky,  being  forced  like  trees 
enclosed  in  a  narrow  compass,  to  seek  in  height  what  was  denied  to 
them  in  breadth.  Being  niggard  of  every  inch  of  ground,  as  having  been 
from  the  outset  compressed  into  a  narrow  compass,  they  allowed  no 
more  room  for  the  streets  than  was  absolutely  necessary  for  separating 
one  row  of  houses  from  another,  and  affording  a  narrow  way  for  pas- 
sengers. Moreover,  water  was  at  once  street,  square,  and  promenade. 
The  Venetian  was  forced  to  become  a  new  creature  ;  and  Venice  can 
only  be  compared  with  itself" — Goethe, 

"A  few  in  fear, 
Flying  away  from  him  whose  boast  it  was 
That  the  grass  grew  not  where  his  horse  had  trod, 
Gave  birth  to  Venice.     Like  the  water-fowl, 
They  built  their  nests  among  the  ocean-waves  ; 
And  where  the  sands  were  shifting,  as  the  wind 
Blew  from  the  north  or  south — where  they  that  came 
Had  to  make  sure  the  ground  they  stood  upon, 
Rose,  like  an  exhalation  from  the  deep, 
A  vast  metropolis,  with  glistening  spires. 
With  theatres,  basilicas  adorned  ; 
A  scene  of  light  and  glory,  a  dominion. 
That  has  endured  the  longest  among  men." — Rogers. 

For  nearly  11 00  years  the  colony  thus  formed  was 
governed  by  a  series  of  Dukes  or  Doges,  amongst  whom 
perhaps  the  best  known  names  have  been  those  of  Sebastiano 
Ziani,  under  whom  Frederick  Barbarossa  humbled  himself 
in  the  portico  of  S.  Mark's  before  Pope  Alexander  III. ; 
Andrea  Dandolo,  who  took  part  in  the  4th  Crusade  and  the 
conquest  of  Constantinople ;  Marino  Faliero,  beheaded  on 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


the  Giants'  stairs  for  aspiring  to  the  sovereign  power ;  and 
Francesco  Foscari,  deposed  after  having  been  forced  to 
drive  his  own  son  into  permanent  exile.* 


•  The  order  of  the  Doges  has  been — 

697  —  716.  Paolo  Anafesto. 

726  —  737.  Orso  I. 

742  —  755.  Deodato  Orso. 

755  —  756-  Galla. 

756  —  764  Dom.  Monegario. 
764  —  787.  Maurizio  Galbaia. 
804  —  809.  Obelario  Antenorio. 
810  —  827.  Angelo  Partecipazio. 
827  —  830.  Giustiniano  Partecipazio. 
830  —  837.  Giovanni  Partecipazio  I. 
837  —  864.  Pietro  Tradenico. 

864  —  881.  Orso  I.  Partecipazio. 

881  —  886.  Giov.  Partecipazio  II. 

886  —  887.  Pietro  Candiano  I. 

888  —  912.  Pietro  Tribuno. 

912  —  932.  Orso  II.  Partecipazio. 

932  —  939.  Pietro  Candiano  II. 

939  —  942.  Pietro  Badoero  Partecipazio. 

942  —  959.  Candiano  III. 

959  —  976.  Candiano  IV. 

076  —  977.  Pietro  Orseolo  I. 

978  —  979.  Vittore  Candiano. 

979  —  991.  Tribolo  Memmo 


991— 
1026 — 
1030 — 
1043— 
1071 — 
1084 — 
1096 — 
1 102 — 
III  7 — : 
1130— 
1148— 
1156 — 
1172 — 
1178— 
1192 — 

T20S— 

1229 

1249  — 
1252— 
1268— 
1275— 
1288— 
1310— 

I3I2 

1328  — 
1339— 
1342— 
1354 

1355— 
1356— 
1 36 1 — 

1365— 

1367 

1382 


009.  Ottone  Orseolo. 

030.  Pietro  Barbolano  Centranigo 

043.  Dom.  Flabanico. 

071.  Dom.  Contarini. 

084.  Dom.  Selva. 

096.  Vitale  Falieri. 

102.  Vitale  Michele  I. 

117.  Ordelaffo  Falieri. 

130.  Dom.  Micheli. 

148.  Pietro  Polani. 

156.  Dom.  Morosini. 

172.  Vitale  Michele  II. 

178.   Sebastiano  Ziani. 

192.  Orio  Malipiero. 

205.  Enrico  Dandolo.  • 

228.  Pietro  Ziani. 

249.  Jacopo  Tiepolo. 

252.  Marco  Morosini. 

268.  Riniero  Zeno. 

275.  Lorenzo  Tiepolo. 

280.  Giovanni  Dandolo. 

310.  Pietro  Gradenigo. 

311.  Marco  Giorgio. 
328.  Giovanni  Soranzo. 
33  .    Francesco  Dandolo. 
342.  Bartolomeo  Gradenigo. 

354.  Andrea  Dandolo. 

355.  Marino  Faliero. 

356.  Giovanni  Gradenigo. 
361,  Giovanni  Delfino. 
365.  Lorenzo  Celsi. 

367.  Marco  Cornaro. 
382.  Andrea  Contarini. 
Michele  Morosini. 


1382 — 1400.  Antonio  Venier. 


1400 — 

1413- 

I4I3— 

'423- 

1423— 

457- 

1457— 

462. 

1462 — 

1471. 

1471 — 

1^17  7. 

1473— 

1474. 

1474— 

1476. 

1476— 

1478. 

1478— 

1485. 

1485— 

[486. 

i486— 

1501. 

1501 — 

1521. 

I52I— 

'523- 

1523— 

528. 

1528— 

1545- 

1545— 

t553- 

»553— 

554- 

1554— 

556. 

1556— 

559- 

1559— 

567- 

1567— 

570. 

1570— 

577- 

1577— 

578. 

1578- 

585- 

1585— 

595- 

1595— 

606. 

1606- 

612. 

1612 — 

615. 

1615— 

618. 

1618. 

1618  — 

623. 

1623 — 

624. 

1624 — 

630. 

1630 — 

631. 

1631 — 

645. 

1645— 

655- 

1655— 

656. 

1656. 

1656— 

658. 

1658- 

659- 

1659— 

674. 

1674— 

676. 

1676 — 

683. 

1683— 

688. 

1688— 

694. 

1694—1 

700. 

1700 — 

709. 

1709— I 

722. 

1722 — 1 

732. 

1732—1 

735- 

'735-1 

741- 

1741— 1 

752. 

1752— I 

762. 

1762. 

1768—1 

779- 

1779—1 

788. 

1788—1 

797- 

Michele  Steno. 
Tommaso  Mocenigo. 
Francesco  Foscari. 
Pasquale  Malipiero. 
Cristofero  Moro. 
Niccolo  Tron. 
Niccol6  Marcello. 
Pietro  Mocenigo. 
Andrea  Vendramin. 
Giovanni  Mocenigo. 
Marco  Barberigo. 
Agostino  Barbarigo. 
Leonardo  Loredan. 
Antonio  Grimani. 
Andrea  Gritti. 
Pietro  Lando. 
Francesco  Donate. 
Marco  Trevisan. 
Francesco  Venier. 
Lorenzo  Priuli. 
Girolamo  Priuli. 
Pietro  Loredan. 
Alvise  Mocenigo  I. 
Sebastiano  Venier. 
Niccol6  da  Ponte. 
Pasquale  Cicogna. 
Marino  Grimani. 
Leonardo  Donato. 
Marco  Me.Timo. 
Giovanni  Bembo. 
Niccolo  Donato. 
Antonio  Priuli. 
Francesco  Contarini. 
Giovanni  Cornaro. 
Niccolo  Contarini. 
Francesco  Erizzo. 
Francesco  Molin. 
Carlo  Contarini. 
Francesco  Cornaro. 
Bertuccio  Valier. 
Giovanni  Pesaro. 
Domenico  Contarini  II. 
Niccol6  Sagredo. 
Alvise  Contarini  II. 
Marc  Ant.  Giustiniani. 
Franc.  Morosini. 
Silvestro  Valier. 
Alvise  Mocenigo  II. 
Giovanni  Cornaro. 
Seb.  Mocenigo  III. 
Carlo  Ruzzini. 
Alvise  Pisani. 
Pietro  Grimani. 
Francesco  Loredan. 
Marco  Foscarini. 
Alvise  Mocenigo  IV. 
Paolo  Renter. 
Lodovico  Manin. 


ARRIVAL  AT  VENICE.  7 

"  We  take  no  note  nowadays,  and  the  Doges  and  magnificent  Senators 
took  no  note  of  the  generation  of  true  founders,  who  must  have  buried 
themselves,  with  their  piles  and  stakes,  upon  the  mud-banks,  to  lay  a 
feasible  foundation  for  the  place,  founding  it,  as  every  great  human  city 
is  founded,  upon  human  blood  and  sacrifice.  But  there  stands  the  city 
of  S.  Mark  miraculous,  a  thing  for  giants  to  wonder  at,  and  fairies  to 
copy  if  they  could.  The  wonder  leaps  upon  the  traveller  all  at  once, 
arriving  over  the  broad  plains  of  Italy,  through  fields  of  wheat  and 
gardens  of  olive,  through  vineyards  and  swamps  of  growing  rice,  across 
broad  rivers  and  monotonous  flats  of  richest  land,  by  the  Euganean 
mountains  dark  upon  the  pale  sky  of  evening,  and  the  low  swamps 
gleaming  under  the  new-risen  moon.  The  means  of  arrival,  indeed,  are 
commonplace  enough,  but  lo  !  in  a  moment  you  step  out  of  the  common- 
place railway  station,  into  the  lucid  stillness  of  the  Water  City,  into 
poetry  and  wonderland.  The  moon  rising  above  shines  upon  pale 
palaces  dim  and  splendid,  and  breaks  in  silver  arrows  and  broad  gleams 
of  whiteness  upon  the  ripple  and  soft  glistening  movement  of  the  canal, 
till,  yet  alive  with  a  hundred  reflections,  and  a  soft  pulsation  and 
twinkle  of  life.  The  lights  glitter  above  and  below,  every  star  and 
every  lamp  doubled  ;  and  the  very  path  by  which  you  are  to  travel  lives, 
and  greets  you  with  soft  gleams  of  liquid  motion,  and  soft  gurgle  of 
liquid  sound.  And  then  comes  the  measured  sweep  of  the  oars,  and 
you  are  away  along  the  silent  splendid  road,  all  darkling,  yet  .alight,  the 
poorest  smoky  oil -lamp  making  for  itself  a  hundred  twinkling  stars  in 
the  little  facets  of  the  wavelets  ;  ripplets,  which  gleam  far  before  you, 
shining  and  twinkling  like  so  many  fairy  forerunners  preparing  your 
way.  Not  a  sound  less  harmonious  and  musical  than  the  soft  plash  of 
the  water  against  the  marble  steps  and  grey  walls,  the  wave  and  wash 
against  your  boat,  the  wild  cry  of  the  boatmen,  as  they  round  with 
magical  precision  each  sharp  comer,  or  the  singing  of  some  wandering 
boatful  of  musicians  on  the  Grand  Canal,  disturbs  the  quiet.  Across 
the  flat  Lido  from  the  Adriatic  comes  a  little  breath  of  fresh  wind, 
touching  your  cheek  with  a  caress  ;  and  when,  out  of  a  maze  of  narrow 
water-lanes,  you  shoot  out  into  the  breadth  and  glorious  moonlight  of 
the  Grand  Canal,  and  see  the  lagoon  go  widening  out,  a  plain  of  dazzling 
silver,  into  the  distance,  and  great  churches  and  palaces  standing  up 
pale  against  the  light,  our  Lady  of  Salvation  and  S.  George  the  greater 
guarding  the  widening  channel,  what  words  can  describe  the  novel, 
beautiful  scene." — Blackivood,  DCCV. 

The  impression  produced  when  the  great  bridge  is  passed, 
and  the  train  glides  into  the  Railway  Station  of  Venice  is 


3  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

one  never  to  be  forgotten.  Instead  of  the  noise  of  a  street, 
and  its  rattling  carriages,  you  find,  as  you  descend  the 
portico  of  the  station,  the  salt  waves  of  the  Grand  Canal 
lapping  against  the  marble  steps,  and  a  number  of  gondolas, 
like  a  row  of  black  hearses,  drawn  up  against  them.  Into 
one  of  these  you  step,  and  noiselessly,  ghastlily,  without 
apparent  motion,  you  float  off  into  the  green  water. 

"  Let  me  this  gondola  boat  compare  to  a  slumbrous  cradle, 
And  to  a  spacious  bier  liken  the  cover  demure  ; 
Thus  on  the  open  canal  through  life  we  are  swaying  and  swimming 
Onward  with  never  a  care,  coffin  and  cradle  between." 

Monckton  MUtus,  from  Goethe. 

It  is  perhaps  best,  and  no  mere  romantic  idea,  to  enter 
Venice  for  the  first  time  by  moonlight.  Then  all  the  shabby 
detail,  all  the  ruin  and  decay,  and  poor  unartistic  repairs 
of  the  grand  old  buildings  are  lost,  and  the  first  views  of 
the  Grand  Canal  are  indeed  surpassingly  beautiful,  and  you 
are  carried  back  to  "  the  golden  days  of  the  Queen  of  the 
Adriatic." 

"A  city  of  marble,  did  I  say?  nay,  rather  a  golden  city,  paved  with 
emerald.  For  truly,  every  pinnacle  and  turret  glanced  and  glowed, 
overlaid  with  gold,  or  bossed  with  jasper.  Beneath,  the  unsullied  sea 
drew  in  deep  breathing,  to  and  fro,  its  eddies  of  green  wave.  Deep- 
hearted,  majestic,  terrible  as  the  sea — the  men  of  Venice  moved  in  sway 
of  power  and  war  ;  pure  as  her  pillars  of  alabaster,  stood  her  mothers 
and  maidens  ;  from  foot  to  brow,  all  noble,  walked  her  knights  ;  the 
low  bronzed  gleaming  of  sea-rusted  armour  shot  angrily  under  their 
blood-red  mantle-folds.  Fearless,  faithful,  patient,  impenetrable,  im- 
placable— every  word  a  fate — sate  her  senate.  In  hope  and  honour, 
lulled  by  flowing  of  wave  around  their  isles  of  sacred  sand,  each  with  his 
name  written  and  the  cross  graven  at  his  side,  lay  her  dead.  A  won- 
derful piece  of  the  world.  Rather,  itself  a  world.  It  lay  along  the  face 
of  the  waters,  no  larger,  as  its  captains  saw  it  from  their  masts  at 
evening,  than  a  bar  of  sunset  that  could  not  pass  away  ;  but  for  its 
power,  it  must  have  seemed  to  them  as  if  they  were  sailing  in  the  ex- 


THE  TEACHING  OF  VENICE.  9 

panse  of  heaven,  and  this  a  great  planet,  whose  orient  edge  widened 
through  ether.  A  world  from  which  all  ignoble  care  and  petty  thoughts 
were  banished,  with  all  the  common  and  poor  elements  of  life.  No 
foulness  or  tumult,  in  those  tremulous  streets,  that  filled  or  fell  beneath 
the  moon  ;  but  rippled  music  of  majestic  change,  or  thrilling  silence. 
No  weak  walls  could  rise  above  them ;  no  low-roofed  collage,  nor 
Straw-built  shed.  Only  the  strength  as  of  rock,  and  the  finished  setting 
of  stones  most  precious.  And  around  them,  far  as  the  eye  could  reach» 
still  the  soft  moving  of  stainless  waters,  proudly  pure  ;  as  not  the  flower, 
as  neither  the  thorn  nor  the  thistle,  could  grow  in  the  glancing  fields. 
Ethereal  strength  of  Alps,  dream-like,  vanishing  in  high  procession 
beyond  the  Torcellan  shore  ;  blue  islands  of  Paduan  hills,  poised  in  the 
golden  west.  Above,  free  winds  and  fiery  clouds  ranging  at  their  will ; 
— brightness  out  of  the  north,  and  balm  from  the  south,  and  the  stars 
of  the  evening  and  morning  clear  in  the  limitless  light  of  arched  heavea 
and  circling  sea." — Raskin's  Modern  Painters. 

It  is  not  a  mere  following  up  of  the  list  of  sights  indicated 
in  these  pages,  which  can  give  the  impression  of  what  Venice 
ought  to  convey,  and  is  ready  to  teach  through  the  wonderful 
histories  and  allegories  which  are  engraved  in  the  sculptures 
of  her  walls  as  in  a  marble  picture-book.  Venice,  like 
Orvieto,  is  full  of  the  deepest  material  for  thought,  and 
many  of  her  buildings  are  still  like  an  index  to  the  historical 
and  religious  feelings  of  the  time  in  which  they  were 
built. 

"  At  Venice,  as  indeed,  throughout  the  whole  Christian  world,  the 
legend  was  the  earliest  form  of  poetry  ;  and  if  it  did  not  strike  root  there 
deeper  than  elsewhere,  it  at  least  adorned  the  infancy  of  the  republic 
with  an  infinite  variety  of  flowers,  which  retained  all  their  beauty  and 
freshness  in  the  proudest  days  of  its  prosperity.  Each  temple,  monastery, 
religious  or  national  monument,  was  surrounded  from  its  foundations 
with  its  own  peculiar  legends,  which  increased  with  every  succeeding 
century  ;  and,  not  satisfied  with  these  local  traditions,  the  people  took 
possession  of  those  of  Egypt,  Asia  Minor,  and  Greece,  which  became 
naturalised  in  the  Lagunes  in  proportion  as  the  relics  of  saints  and 
martyrs  were  transported  there,  in  order  to  preserve  them  from  the  out- 
rages of  the  Infidels,  now  become  masters  of  those  countries  in  which 
the  earliest  Christian  churches  had  been  founded." — Rio. 


lo  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Venice  is  still  one  of  the  most  religious  cities  in  Italy. 
Prayer  never  ceases  here  :  the  Sacrament  is  constantly 
exposed  in  one  or  other  of  the  churches,  and  the  clergy 
succeed  one  another  in  prayers  before  it,  night  as  well  as 
day. 

Each  day  spent  in  the  water-city  will  add  to  its  charm, 
but,  from  the  first  all  is  novel  and  enchanting :  the  very  cries 
of  the  gondoliers  have  something  most  wild  and  picturesque. 
They  are  thus  explained  by  Monckton  Milnes  : 

"  When  along  the  light  ripple  the  far  serenade 
Has  accosted  the  ear  of  each  passionate  maid, 
She  may  open  the  window  that  looks  on  the  stream, — 
She  may  smile  on  her  pillow  and  blend  it  in  dream  ; 
Half  in  words,  half  in  music,  it  pierces  the  gloom, 
'  I  am  coming — stall — but  you  know  not  for  whom  ! 
Stall— not  for  whom ! ' 

Now  the  tones  become  clearer, — ^you  hear  more  and  more 
How  the  water  divided  returns  on  the  oar, — 
Does  the  prow  of  the  gondola  strike  on  the  stair  ? 
Do  the  voices  and  instruments  pause  and  prepare  ? 
Oh  !  they  faint  on  the  ear  as  the  lamp  on  the  view, 
•  I  am  passing — Preme — but  I  stay  not  for  you  ! 

Preme — not  for  you  !  * 

Then  return  to  your  couch,  you  who  stifle  a  tear, — 
Then  awake  not,  fair  sleeper — believe  he  is  here  ; 
For  the  young  and  the  loving  no  sorrow  endures. 
If  to-day  be  another's,  to-morrow  is  yours  ; — 
May,  the  next  time  you  listen,  your  fancy  be  true, 
'  I  am  coming — Sciar— and  for  you  and  to  you  ! 

Sciir — and  to  you  !  "  * 

To  English  eyes  the  sailors  and  facchini  with  their  large 
earrings  are  almost  as  curious  as  the  young  dandies  in  the 

•  From  the  verb  Stalir,  to  go  to  the  right ;  Premier,  to  go  to  the  left ;  and 
Sciar  or  Siar,  to  stop  the  boat  by  turning  the  flat  part  of  the  oar  against  the  cur- 
rent- 


VENETIAN  GEOGRAPHY.  II 

Giardino  in  summer  with  their  almost  invariable  fans  as  well 
as  parasols  ! 

Travellers  will  do  well  to  select  a  Hotel  as  near  as 
possible  to  the  Piazza  S.  Marco,  which  is  in  itself  filled  with 
interest  and  delight,  and  is  the  centre  of  everything  else. 
Here  they  may  devote  every  extra  moment  to  revisiting 
the  most  glorious  church  in  the  world,  and  hence  they  will 
gradually  learn  to  make  their  way  through  the  narrow  streets 
which  wind  labyrinthine-like  over  the  closely-packed  group 
of  islets.  The  best  way  will  be  to  make  the  tour  of  Venice 
first  in  a  gondola,  and  then,  when  partially  familiar  with  the 
position  of  things,  to  follow  up  your  explorations  on  foot, 
for  every  square,  every  house  even  of  the  city,  may  be  visited 
by  land  as  well  as  by  water,  as  the  7  2  islands  on  which  the 
town  is  built  are  connected  by  from  350  to  400  bridges. 
Most  difficult  however  is  the  geography,  and  the  only  real 
guide  is  a  narrow  white  marble  thread  in  the  pavement, 
which,  passing  through  several  of  the  principal  footways, 
always  leads  to  the  Rialto. 

The  Calk,  as  the  narrow  streets  are  called,  are,  in  their 
way,  as  full  of  interest  as  the  canals. 

"Jusqu'aux  ruelles,  aux  moindres  places,  il  n'y  a  rien  qui  ne  fasse 
plaisir.  Du  palais  Loredan,  oil  je  suis,  on  tourne,  pour  aller  a  Saint- 
Marc,  par  des  calle  biscornues  et  charmantes,  tapissees  de  boutiques,  de 
merceries,  d'etalages  de  melons,  de  legumes  et  d' oranges,  peuplees  de 
costumes  voyants,  de  figures  narquoises  ou  sensuelles,  d'une  foule  bruis- 
sante  et  changeante.  Ces  ruelles  sont  si  etroites,  si  bizarrement  etriquees 
entre  leurs  murs  irreguliers,  qu'on  n'aper9oit  sur  sa  tete  qu'une  bande 
dentelee  du  ciel.  On  arrive  sur  quelque//<722<?//'a,  quelque  faw/f  desert, 
tout  blanc  sous  un  ciel  blanc  de  lumiere.  Dalles,  murailles,  enceinte, 
pave,  tout  y  est  pierre  ;  alentour  sont  des  maisons  fermees,  et  leurs  files 
forment  un  triangle  ou  un  carre  bossele  par  le  besoin  de  s'etendre  et  le 
hasard  de  la  batisse ;  une  citerne  delicatement  ouvragee  fait  le  centre, 
et  des  lions  sculptes,  de  figurines  nues  jouent  sur  la  margelle.     Dans 


12  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

un  coin  est  quelque  eglise  baroque, — un  portail  charge  de  statues,  tout 
bruni  par  Thuniidite  de  I'air  sale  et  par  la  brulure  antique  du  soleil; — 
un  jet  de  clarte  oblique  tranche  1' edifice  en  deux  pans,  et  la  moitie  des 
figures  semblent  s'agiter  sur  les  frontons  ou  sortir  des  niches  pendant  que 
les  autres  reposent  dans  la  transparence  bleuatre  de  1' ombre. — On 
avance,  et,  dans  un  long  boyau  qu'un  petit  pont  traverse,  on  voit  des 
gondoles  sillonner  d'argent  le  marbre  bigarre  de  I'eau  ;  tout  au  bout  de 
I'enfilade,  un  petillement  d'or  marque  sur  le  flot  le  ruissellement  du 
soleil  qui,  du  haut  d'lm  toit,  fait  danser  des  eclairs  sur  le  blanc  tigre  de 
I'onde. " —  Taine. 

For  a  passing  stranger  it  may  be  well  to  divide  the  sight- 
seeing at  Venice  into  eight  divisions, 

1.  The  Piazza  of  S.  Marco  and  its  surroundings. 

2.  The  Grand  Canal. 

3.  The  South-Eastern  quarter  of  Venice — from  S.   Zaccaria  to  the 

Public  Gardens. 

4.  The  North-Eastem  quarter — from  S.  Moise  to  S.  Giobbe. 

5.  Western  Venice — from  S.  Trovaso  to  S.  Andrea. 

6.  The  Giudecca,  the  Armenian  Convent,  and  the  Lido. 

7.  Chioggia. 

8.  Murano  and  Torcello. 

In  the  arrangement  of  Venetian  sight-seeing  it  should  be 
remembered  that  few  of  the  churches  are  open  after  twelve 
o'clock,  and  the  Academy  closes  at  three.  The  mornings 
therefore  should  be  given  to  sights  in  the  town,  the  after- 
noons to  general  explorations. 


w 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
VENICE. 

s.  mark's  and  its  surroundings. 

E  will  suppose  the  traveller  threading  his  way  from  one 
of  the  neighbouring  hotels  to  the  Piazza  S.  Marco. 


"It  is  a  paved  alley,  some  seven  feet  wide  where  it  is  widest,  full  of 
people,  and  resonant  with  cries  of  itinerant  salesmen, — a  shriek  in  their 
beginning,  and  dying  away  into  a  kind  of  brazen  ringing,  all  the  worse 
for  its  confinement  between  the  high  houses  of  the  passage  along  which 
we  have  to  make  our  way.  Overhead  an  inextricable  confusion  of  rug- 
ged shutters,  and  iron  balconies  and  chimney  flues  pushed  out  on  brack- 
ets to  save  room,  and  arched  windows  with  projecting  sills  of  Istrian 
stone,  and  gleams  of  green  leaves  here  and  there  where  a  fig-tree  branch 
escapes  over  a  lower  wall  from  some  inner  cortile,  leading  the  eye  up  to 
the  narrow  stream  of  blue  sky  high  over  all.  On  each  side,  a  row  of 
shops,  as  densely  set  as  may  be,  occupying  in  fact,  intervals  between 
the  square  stone  shafts,  about  eight  feet  high,  which  carry  the  first  floors  : 
intervals  of  which  one  is  narrow  and  serves  as  a  door  ;  the  other  is,  in 
the  more  respectable  shops,  wainscoted  to  the  height  of  the  counter  and 
glazed  above,  but  in  those  of  the  poorer  tradesmen  left  open  to  the 
ground,  and  the  wares  laid  on  benches  and  tables  in  the  open  air,  the 
light  in  all  cases  entering  at  the  front  only,  and  fading  away  in  a  few  feet 
from  the  threshold  into  a  gloom  which  the  eye  from  without  cannot 
penetrate,  but  which  is  generally  broken  by  a  ray  or  two  from  a  feeble 
lamp  at  the  back  of  the  shop,  suspended  before  a  print  of  the  Virgin. 
The  less  pious  shopkeeper  sometimes  leaves  his  lamp  unlighted,  and  is 
contented  with  a  penny  print ;  the  more  religious  one  has  his  print 
coloured  and  set  in  a  little  shrine  with  a  gilded  or  figured  fringe,  with 
perhaps  a  faded  flower  or  two  on  each  side,  and  his  lamp  burning  bril- 
liantly. Here  at  the  fruiterer's,  where  the  dark-green  water-melons  are 
heaped  upon  the  counter  like  cannon  balls,  the  Madonna  has  a  taber- 


14  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

nacle  of  fresh  laurel  leaves  ;  but  the  pewterer  next  door  has  let  his  lamp 
out,  and  there  is  nothing  to  be  seen  in  his  shop  but  the  dull  gleam  of 
the  studded  patterns  on  the  copper  pans,  hanging  from  his  roof  in  the 
darkness.  Next  comes  a  '  Vendita  Frittole  e  Liquori,'  where  the  Virgin, 
enthroned  in  a  very  humble  manner  beside  a  tallow  candle  on  a  back 
shelf,  presides  over  certain  ambrosial  morsels  of  a  nature  too  ambiguous 
to  be  defined  or  enumerated.  But  a  few  steps  further  on,  at  the  regular 
wine-shop  of  the  calle,  where  we  are  offered  '  Vino  Nostrano  a  Soldi 
28 — 32,'  the  Madonna  is  in  great  glory,  enthroned  above  ten  or  a  dozen 
large  red  casks  of  three-year-old  vintage,  and  flanked  by  goodly  ranks 
of  bottles  of  Maraschino,  and  two  crimson  lamps  ;  and  for  the  evening, 
when  the  gondoliers  will  come  to  drink  out,  under  her  auspices,  the 
money  they  have  gained  during  the  day,  she  will  have  a  whole  chande- 
lier. 

"  A  yard  or  two  farther,  we  pass  the  hostelry  of  the  Black  Eagle,  and, 
glancing  as  we  pass,  through  the  square  door  of  marble,  deeply  moulded 
in  the  outer  wall,  we  see  the  shadows  of  its  pergola  of  vines  resting  on 
an  ancient  well,  with  a  pointed  shield  carved  on  its  side ;  and  so  pre- 
sently emerge  on  the  bridge  and  Campo  San  Moise,  whence  to  the 
entrance  into  S.  Mark's  Place,  called  the  Bocca  di  Piazza  (mouth  of  the 
square),  the  Venetian  character  is  nearly  destroyed,  first  by  the  frightful 
fa9ade  of  San  Moise,  and  then  by  the  modernizing  of  the  shops  as  they 
near  the  piazza,  and  the  mingling  with  the  lower  Venetian  populace  of 
lounging  groups  of  foreigners.  We  will  push  past  through  them  into 
the  shadow  of  the  pillars  at  the  end  of  the  '  Bocca  di  Piazza,'  and  then 
we  forget  them  all ;  for  between  those  pillars  there  opens  a  great  light, 
and,  in  the  midst  of  it,  as  we  advance  slowly,  the  vast  tower  of  S.  Mark 
seems  to  lift  itself  visibly  forth  from  the  level  field  of  chequered  stones  ; 
and,  on  each  side,  the  countless  arches  prolong  themselves  into  ranged 
symmetry,  as  if  the  rugged  and  irregular  houses  that  pressed  together 
above  us  in  the  dark  alley  had  been  struck  back  into  sudden  obedience 
and  lovely  order,  and  all  their  rude  casements  and  broken  walls  had 
been  transformed  into  arches  charged  with  goodly  sculpture,  and  fluted 
shafts  of  delicate  stone. 

"And  well  may  they  fall  back,  for  beyond  those  troops  of  ordered 
arches  there  rises  a  vision  out  of  the  earth,  and  all  the  great  square 
seems  to  have  opened  from  it  in  a  kind  of  awe,  that  we  may  see  it  far 
away ; — a  multitude  of  pillars  and  white  domes,  clustered  into  a  long 
low  pyramid  of  coloured  light  ;  a  treasure-heap,  it  seems,  partly  of  gold, 
and  partly  of  opal  and  mother-of-pearl,  hollowed  beneath  into  five  great 
vaulted  porches,  ceiled  with  fair  mosaic,  and  beset  with  sculpture  of 
alabaster,  clear  as  amber  and  delicate  as  ivory, — sculpture  fantastic  and 


THE  PIAZZA  S.  MARCO.  15 

involved,  of  palm-leaves  and  lilies,  and  grapes  and  pomegranates,  and 
birds  clinging  and  fluttering  among  the  branches,  all  twined  together 
into  an  endless  network  of  buds  and  plumes  ;  and,  in  the  midst  of  it, 
the  solemn  forms  of  angels,  sceptred,  and  robed  to  the  feet,  and  leaning 
to  each  other  across  the  gates,  their  figures  indistinct  among  the  gleam- 
ing of  the  golden  ground  through  the  leaves  beside  them,  interrupted 
and  dim,  like  the  morning  light  as  it  faded  back  among  the  branches  of 
Eden,  when  first  its  gates  were  angel-guarded  long  ago.  And  round 
the  walls  of  the  porches  there  are  set  pillars  of  variegated  stones,  jasper 
and  porphyry,  and  deep  green  serpentine  spotted  with  flakes  of  snow, 
and  marbles,  that  half  refuse  and  half  yield  to  the  sunshine.  Cleopatra- 
like, '  their  bluest  veins  to  kiss ' — the  shadow,  as  it  steals  back  from 
them,  revealing  line  after  line  of  azure  undulation,  as  a  receding  tide 
leaves  the  waved  sand  ;  their  capitals  rich  with  interwoven  tracery, 
rooted  knots  of  herbage,  and  drifting  leaves  of  acanthus  ai*d  vine,  and 
mystical  signs,  all  beginning  and  ending  in  the  Cross  ;  and  above  them, 
in  the  broad  archivolts,  a  continuous  chain  of  language  and  of  life — 
angels,  and  the  signs  of  heaven,  and  the  labours  of  men,  each  in  its 
appointed  season  upon  the  earth  ;  and  above  these,  another  range  of 
glittering  pinnacles,  mixed  with  white  arches  edged  with  scarlet  flowers, 
— a  confusion  of  delight,  amidst  which  the  breasts  of  the  Greek  horses 
are  seen  blazing  in  their  breadth  of  golden  strength,  and  the  S-  Mark's 
Lion,  lifted  on  a  blue  field  covered  with  stars,  until  at  last,  as  if  in 
ecstacy,  the  crests  of  the  arches  break  into  a  marble  foam,  and  toss 
themselves  far  into  the  blue  sky  in  flashes  and  wreaths  of  sculptured  spray, 
as  if  the  breakers  on  the  Lido  shore  had  been  frost-bound  before  they 
fell,  and  the  sea-nymphs  had  inlaid  them  with  coral  and  amethyst," — 
Ruskifi,  Stones  of  Venice. 

Glorious  indeed  is  this  piazza  and  the  succession  of  build- 
ings which  surrounds  it.  On  the  north  are  the  Procuratie 
Vecchie,  built  by  Bartolomeo  Buono  da  Bergamo,  15 17. 
Then  comes  the  tower  called  Torre  del  Orologio,  built  1466 
— 1495,  conspicuous  from  its  dial  of  blue  and  gold,  and 
surmounted  by  bronze  figures  who  strike  the  hours  upon 
a  bell.  The  arch  beneath  leads  into  the  busy  street  of  the 
Merceria.  On  Ascension  and  for  many  days  after,  the  Magi 
come  forth  in  procession  and  salute  the  Virgin  and  Child  on 
this  tower,  when  the  clock  strikes  twelve. 


i6  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  piazza  are  the  Biblioteca  and 
Procuratie  Nuove,  built  from  designs  of  Scamozzi.  The 
latter  are  converted  into  a  palace  :  they  occupy  the  site  of 
the  fine  church  of  S.  Geminiano,  which  was  built  by  Sanso- 
vino  and  where  he  was  buried.  The  Libreria  Vecchia  is 
continued  down  the  west  side  of  the  Fiazzetta,  which  opens 
from  the  piazza  opposite  the  Torre  del  Orologio.  The 
foundation  of  the  library  was  the  collection  of  Petrarch,  who 
came  to  settle  in  Venice  in  1529,  and  made  "  S.  Mark  the 
heir  of  his  library."  It  was  afterwards  greatly  enriched  by 
Cardinal  Bessarion  and  others.  The  great  hall  is  very 
handsome  and  has  some  paintings  by  Paul  Veronese  and 
Tintoret.  The  adjoining  building,  facing  the  lagoon,  is  the 
Zecca,  built  as  a  mint  by  Sansovino  in  1536,  and  which  gave 
its  name  to  the  Zecchino  or  Sequin,  the  favourite  coin  of  the 
republic.  It  contains  some  portraits  by  Tintoret.  At  the 
end  of  the  Piazzetta  towards  the  lagoon  are  two  granite 
pillars,  one  surmounted  by  the  Lion  of  S.  Mark,  the  other 
by  a  statue  of  S.  Theodore  standing  on  a  crocodile  (by 
Pietro  Guilombardo,  1329), — the  saint  who  was  patron  of  the 
Republic  before  the  body  of  S.  Mark  was  brought  from 
Egypt  in  827,  The  columns  themselves  were  brought  from 
Palestine  in  1927.  Then  Doge  Sebastiano  Ziani  (i  172 — 78), 
having  promised  any  "  onesta  grazia  "  to  the  man  who  should 
safely  lift  them  to  their  places,  it  was  claimed  by  Nicolo  il 
Barattiere,  who  demanded  that  gambling,  prohibited  else- 
where, should  be  permitted  between  these  pillars.  The 
promise  could  not  be  revoked,  but  to  render  it  of  no  effect, 
all  public  executions  were  also  ordained  to  be  held  on  this 
spot,  so  as  to  render  it  one  of  ill-omen. 

At  the  inner  entrance  of  the  Piazzetta,  between  the  Ducal 


THE  PIAZZA  S.  MARCO.  IJ 

Palace  and  the  church,  are  the  richly  sculptured  Pillars  of  S. 
yean  d'Acre,  once  part  of  a  gateway  of  S.  Saba  in  Ptolemais. 
They  were  brought  back  in  a  Venetian  triumph  in  1256. 
Near  these,  at  the  comer  of  the  church,  is  a  low  pillar  of  red 
porphyry,  which  is  also  said  to  have  come  from  Acre.  It  is 
called  Pietra  del  Pando,  and  the  laws  of  the  Republic  are 
said  to  have  been  promulgated  from  hence. 

At  the  opposite  angle  is  the  great  Campafiile  begun  by 
Doge  Pietro  Tribuno  in  888,  but  not  finished  till  151 1.  It 
is  entered  by  a  small  door  on  the  west  (2  soldi),  whence  a 
winding  and  easy  footpath  (no  steps)  leads  to  the  summit. 
The  view  is  truly  magnificent,  and  should  be  one  of  the  first 
l)oints  visited  in  Venice.  It  is  the  only  way  of  understand- 
ing the  intricate  plan  of  the  wonderfiil  water-city,  which  from 
hence  is  seen  like  a  map,  with  all  its  towers  and  churches 
and  distant  attendant  islands,  while  beyond  it  the  chain  of 
Alps  girds  in  the  horizon  with  a  glistening  band  of  snowy 
peaks. 

At  the  foot  of  the  Campanile  is  the  Loggia  ("  sotto  il  Cajti- 
panile" )  \)Vi\\X.  by  Sansovino  in  1569  as  a  meeting-place  for 
the  Venetian  nobles.  It  is  richly  adorned  with  reliefs  and 
has  bronze  statues  of  Minerva,  Apollo,  Mercury,  and  a  God 
of  Peace,  by  Satisovino. 

In  front  of  the  church,  rise  from  richly  decorated  bronze 
sockets,  by  Alessandro  Leopardo,  the  tall  flagstaffs  which 
bore  the  banners  of  the  Republic.  Here,  in  the  piazza,  we 
may  always  see  flocks  of  pigeons,  sacred  birds  in  Venice, 
which  are  so  tame  that  they  never  move  out  of  your  way, 
but  run  before  you  as  you  walk,  and  perch  on  the  sill  of 
your  open  window. 

VOL.  11,  2' 


l8  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

*'  Ces  pigeons  remontent  aux  anciens  temps  de  Venise.  Alors  il  etait 
d' usage,  le  jour  des  Rameaux,  de  lacher  d'au-dessus  de  la  porte  princi- 
pale  de  Saint -Marc  un  grand  nombre  d'oiseaiix  avec  de  petits  rouleaux 
de  papier  attaches  a  la  patte,  qui  les  fonjaient  a  tomber ;  le  peuple, 
malgre  leurs  efforts  pour  se  soutenir  quelque  temps  en  I'air,  se  les  dispu- 
tait  aussitot  avec  violence.  II  arriva  que  quelques  uns  de  ces  pigeons  se 
delivrerent  de  leurs  entraves,  et  trainant  la  ficelle  chercherent  un  asile 
sur  les  toits  de  Saint-Marc.  lis  s'y  multiplierent  rapidement ;  et  tel  fiit 
I'interet  qu'  inspirerent  ces  refugies  que,  d'apres  le  voeu  general,  un  de- 
cret  fut  rendu  portant  qu'ils  seraient  non-seulement  respectes,  mais 
nourris  aux  frais  de  I'Etat." — Valery. 

The  distinctive  wonders  of  the  Tisizza.  S.  Marco  are  thus 
popularly  enumerated  in  the  Venetian  dialect : — 

"  In  piazza  San  Marco  ghe  xe  tre  standard!, 
Ghe  xe  quatro  cavai  che  par  che  i  svola 
Ghe  xe  un  relogio  che  '1  par  una  tore, 
Ghe  xe  do  mori  che  bate  le  ore." 

"  It  is  a  great  piazza,  anchored,  like  all  the  rest,  in  the  deep  ocean. 
On  its  broad  bosom,  is  a  palace,  more  majestic  and  magnificent  in  its 
old  age  than  all  the  buildings  of  the  earth,  in  the  high  prime  and  fulness 
of  their  youth.  Cloisters  and  galleries ;  so  light,  they  might  be  the  work 
of  fairy  hands  ;  so  strong  that  centuries  have  battered  them  in  vain ; 
wind  round  and  round  this  palace,  and  enfold  it  with  a  cathedral,  gor- 
geous in  the  wild  luxuriant  fancies  of  the  East.  At  no  great  distance 
from  its  porch,  a  lofty  tower,  standing  by  itself,  and  rearing  its  proud 
head  above,  into  the  sky,  looks  out  upon  the  Adriatic  Sea.  Near  to  the 
margin  of  the  stream,  are  two  ill-omened  pillars  of  red  granite  ;  one 
having  on  its  top,  a  figure  with  a  sword  and  shield  ;  the  other,  a  winged 
lion.  Not  far  from  these,  again,  a  second  tower,  richest  of  the  rich  in  all 
its  decorations,  even  here,  where  all  is  rich,  sustains  aloft  a  great  orb, 
gleaming  with  gold  and  deepest  blue ;  the  twelve  signs  painted  on  it, 
and  a  mimic  sun  revolving  in  its  course  around  them ;  while  above,  two 
bronze  giants  hammer  out  the  hours  upon  a  sounding  bell.  An  oblong 
square  of  lofty  houses  of  the  whitest  stone,  surrounded  by  a  light  and 
beautiful  arcade,  forms  part  of  this  enchanted  scene  ;  and,  here  and  there, 
gay  masts  for  flags  rise,  tapering  from  the  pavement  of  the  unsubstantial 
ground." — Dickens. 

As  we  are  now  standing  under  the  shadow  of  S.  Mark's, 
we  may  give  a  few  moments  to  its  origin  and  story. 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  S.  MARCO.  19 

"  *  And  so  Barnabas  took  Mark,  and  sailed  unto  Cyprus.'  If  as  the 
shores  of  Asia  lessened  upon  his  sight,  the  spirit  of  prophecy  had  entered 
into  the  heart  of  the  weak  disciple  who  had  turned  back  when  his  hand 
was  on  the  plough,  and  who  had  been  judged,  by  the  chiefest  of  Christ's 
captains,  unworthy  henceforward  to  go  forth  with  him  to  the  work,  how 
wonderful  would  he  have  thought  it,  that  by  the  lion  symbol  in  future 
ages  he  was  to  be  represented  among  men  !  how  woful,  that  the  war-cry 
of  his  name  should  so  often  re-animate  the  rage  of  the  soldier,  on  those 
very  playis  where  he  himself  had  failed  in  the  courage  of  the  Christian, 
and  so  often  dye  with  fruitless  blood  that  very  Cypriot  Sea,  over  whose 
waves,  in  repentance  and  shame,  he  was  following  the  Son  of  Consola- 
tion I 

"That  the  Venetians  possessed  themselves  of  his  body  in  the  ninth 
century  there  appears  no  sufficient  reason  to  doubt,  nor  that  it  was 
principally  in  consequence  of  their  having  done  so,  that  they  chose  him 
for  their  patron  saint.  There  exists,  however,  a  tradition  that  before  he 
went  into  Egypt  he  had  founded  the  church  at  Aquileia,  and  was  thus, 
in  some  sort,  the  first  bishop  of  the  Venetian  isles  and  people." — Rtiskin, 
Stones  of  Venice. 

The  translation  of  the  body  of  S.  Mark  to  Venice  is  said  to 
have  been  caused  by  the  rapacity  of  the  king  of  Alexandria, 
who  plundered  the  church  where  he  was  enshrined  in  that 
city  to  adorn  his  own  palace.  Two  Venetian  sea-captains 
who  were  then  at  Alexandria  implored  to  be  allowed  to  re- 
move the  relics  of  the  saint  to  a  place  of  safety,  and  at  last 
the  priests,  fearful  of  further  desecration,  consented.  "  They 
placed  the  corpse  in  a  large  b'asket  covered  with  herbs  and 
swine's  flesh  which  the  Mussulmans  hold  in  horror,  and  the 
bearers  were  directed  to  cry  Khawzir  (pork),  to  all  who 
should  ask  questions  or  approach  to  search.  In  this  manner 
they  reached  the  vessel.  The  body  was  enveloped  in  the 
sails  and  suspended  to  the  mainmast  till  the  moment  of  de- 
parture, for  it  was  necessary  to  conceal  this  precious  booty 
from  those  who  might  come  to  clear  the  vessel  in  the  roads. 
At  last  the  Venetians  quitted  the  shore  full  of  joy.  They 
were  hardly  in  the  open  sea  when  a  great  storm  arose.     We 


20  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

are  assured  that  S.  Mark  then  appeared  to  the  captain  and 
warned  him  to  strike  all  his  sails  immediately,  lest  the  ship, 
driven  before  the  wind,  should  be  wrecked  upon  hidden 
rocks.     They  owed  their  safety  to  this  miracle." 

The  first  church  erected  at  Venice  in  honour  of  S.  Mark 
was  destroyed  by  fire  in  976.  Its  rebuilding  was  immedi- 
ately commenced,  and  the  existing  church  was  consecrated 
in  1085.  Since  that  time  every  succeeding  Doge  has  added 
to  the  richness  of  its  decorations.  The  main  body  of  the 
church  is  of  the  eleventh  century,  the  Gothic  additions  of  the 
fourteenth,  and  the  restored  mosaics  of  the  seventeenth. 

"Venice,  we  must  never  forget,  is  for  architectural  purposes  no  part 
of  Italy,  no  part  of  the  dominions  of  the  Western  Emperor.  'H^tlff 
hovKoi  BtXofiiv  ilvai  tov  ''Paifiaiuiv  j3a(Ti\fa>c  are  the  words  put  into  the 
mouth  of  the  islanders  by  the  imperial  historian,  and  they  ceased  to  be 
subjects  of  the  Eastern  Csesar  only  in  becoming  Lords  of  One  Fourth 
and  One  Eighth  of  his  empire.  Both  as  subjects  and  as  lords  they  were 
equally  disciples.  The  ducal  chapel  of  Venice  repeats  the  patriarchal 
church  of  Constantinople,  as  it  is  itself  so  strangely  repeated  in  the  far 
distant  abbey  of  Perigueux. " — Freeman. 

Over  the  doorways  are  five  mosaics,  beginning  from  the 
right,  viz  : 

The  translation  of  the  Relics  of  S.  Mark  from  Alexandria,  1650. 
Pietro  Vecchio. 

Landing  of  the  Relics.     Pietro  Vecchio. 

The  Last  Judgment,  1836.     L.  Guerena. 

The  magistrates  of  Venice  venerating  the  Relics  of  S.  Mark,  1728. 
Sebastiano  Rizzi. 

The  Enshrining  of  the  Relics,  and  the  fa9ade  of  the  church,  an  ancient 
work  of  the  early  part  of  the  1 3th  century. 

Over  the  portico  are  the  four  famous  Bronze  Horses, 
brought  from  Constantinople  by  the  Venetians  after  the 
fourth  Crusade. 

"  A  glorious  team  of  horses, — I  should  like  to  hear  the  opinion  o£  a 
good  judge  of  horse-flesh.  What  seemed  strange  to  me  was,  that  closely 


VESTIBULA  OF  S.  MARCO.  21 

viewed,  they  appear  heavy,  while  from  the  piazza  below  they  look  light 

as  deer." — Goethe. 

"  In  this  temple-porch, 
Old  as  he  was,  so  near  his  hundredth  year. 
And  blind — his  eyes  put  out — did  Dandolo 
Stand  forth,  displaying  on  his  crown  the  cross. 
There  did  he  stand,  erect,  invincible. 
Though  wan  his  cheeks,  and  wet  with  many  tears, 
For  in  his  prayers  he  had  been  weeping  much  ; 
And  now  the  pilgrim  and  the  people  wept 
With  admiration,  saying  in  their  hearts, 
'  Surely  those  aged  limbs  have  need  of  rest ! ' 
There  did  he  stand,  with  his  old  armour  on, 
Ere,  gonfalon  in  hand,  that  streamed  aloft, 
As  conscious  of  its  glorious  destiny. 
So  soon  to  float  o'er  mosque  and  minaret, 
He  sailed  away,  five  hundred  gallant  ships. 
Their  lofty  sides  hung  with  emblazoned  shields, 
Following  his  track  to  fame.     He  went  to  die  ; 
But  of  his  trophies  four  arrived  ere  long, 
Snatched  from  destruct'on— the  four  steeds  divine. 
That  strike  the  ground,  resounding  with  their  feet, 
And  from  their  nostrils  snort  ethereal  flame 
Over  that  very  porch." — Rogers. 

On  entering  the  vestibule,  we  see,  in  front  of  the  central 
doorway,  a  lozenge  of  red  and  white  marble.  This  marks 
the  spot  where  the  celebrated  reconciliation  took  place  be- 
tween the  Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa  and  Pope  Alex- 
ander III.,  July  23,  1 1 77. 

"  The  Emperor,  with  the  Doge  and  senators,  and  with  his  own  Teu- 
tonic nobles,  advanced  to  the  portal  of  S.  Mark,  where  stood  the  Pope 
in  his  pontifical  attire.  Frederick  no  sooner  beheld  the  successor  of 
S.  Peter,  than  he  threw  off  his  imperial  mantle,  prostrated  himself,  and 
kissed  the  feet  of  the  Pontiff.  Alexander,  not  without  tears,  raised  him 
up,  and  gave  him  the  kiss  of  peace.  Then  swelled  out  the  Te  Deum  ; 
and  the  Emperor,  holding  the  hand  of  the  Pope,  was  led  into  the  choir, 
and  received  the  Papal  benediction." — Alilman's  Hist,  of  Latin  Chris- 
tianity. 

All   around   are   columns  of    precious   marbles,   chiefly 


22  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

brought  from  the  East,  and  above  these  equally  precious 
mosaics.  That  over  the  principal  door  of  S.  Mark,  is  by 
the  brothers  Zuccati  in  1545,  from  designs  of  Titian.  The 
representation  of  the  Crucifixion  opposite,  is  also  by  the 
Zuccati.  The  earlier  mosaics  are  of  the  nth  century,  and 
many  of  these  are  of  great  interest.  We  may  especially 
notice,  on  the  left,  as  a  figure  seldom  represented  in  art, 
that  of  Phocas,  the  sainted  gardener  of  Sinope  in  Pontus 
(a.d.  303),  who  being  much  given  to  hospitality,  courteously 
received  and  lodged  the  executioners  sent  to  put  him  to 
death ;  who  received  his  kindness  not  knowing,  but  in  the 
morning,  when  he  revealed  himself  to  them,  w^ere  comj>elled 
to  behead  him,  and  they  buried  him  in  a  grave  he  had  dug 
for  himself,  amongst  his  flowers. 

"The  custom  of  burying  illustrious  persons  in  Roman  or  early 
Christian  sarcophagi  prevailed  until  the  14th  century.  Vitale  Faliero, 
for  instance,  lies  in  the  atrium  of  S.  Mark's,  to  the  right  of  the  great 
portal,  in  a  sarcophagus  with  shapeless  octagonal  columns.  Had 
Venice  had  any  fitter  resting-place  for  this  doge,  in  whose  reign  occurred 
the  miraculous  recovery  of  the  body  of  S.  Mark  and  the  visit  of  the 
EmpercM-  Henry  IV.,  she  would  not  thus  have  buried  him  in  a  tomb 
made  up  of  old  fragments.  In  a  similar  sarcophagus  on  the  other  side 
of  the  great  portal  lies  the  wife  of  Vitale  Mich^Ie,  who  ruled  the 
Republic  at  the  time  of  the  first  Crusade,  in  which  Venice  co-operated 
but  coldly,  fearing  that  it  would  interfere  with  her  commerce  with  the 
E^t ;  the  fleet  she  sent  to  Syria  was  employed  in  fighting  with  the 
Pisans  off  Smyrna  for  possession  of  the  bodies  of  SS.  Teodoro  and 
Niccol6,  and  in  plundering  the  richly-laden  Genoese  ships  in  their 
homeward  voyage.  Another  doge,  Marino  Morosini,  whose  short 
and  uneventful  reign  is  summed  up  by  Maestro  Martino  da  Canale  in 
the  words,  '  fu  si  grazioso  ch'  egli  uso  sua  vita  in  pace,  ne  nullo  os6 
assalire  di  guerra,'  also  lies  buried  in  the  atrium  of  S.  Mark's  in  an  old 
Christian  sarcophagus,  sculptured  with  rude  figures  of  Christ  and  the 
Apostles,  angels  bearing  censers,  and  ornate  crosses." — Perkin's  Italian 
Sculptors. 

On  the  right  is  the  entrance  of  the  Zeno  Chapel,  built 
1505 — 15 1 5,  by  Cardinal  Giambattista  Zeno,  and  contain- 


BAPTISTERY  OF  S.  MARCO.  23 

ing  his  grand  bronze  tomb  by  Antonio  Lombardo  and  Ales- 
sandro  Leopardo.  The  altar  has  a  beautiful  figure  of  the 
Madonna  delta  Scarpa  between  SS.  Peter  and  John  Baptist. 
The  mosaics,  which  tell  the  story  of  S.  Mark,  are  of  the  12  th 
century. 

A  door  to  the  right  of  the  principal  entrance  leads  to  the 
Baptistery,  or  Chapel  of  S.  Giovanni  Battista — San  Zuane 
in  the  soft  Venetian  vernacular. 

'*  We  are  in  a  low  vaulted  room  ;  vaulted,  not  with  arches,  but 
with  small  cupolas  starred  with  gold,  and  chequered  with  gloomy 
figures  :  in  the  centre  is  a  bronze  font  charged  with  rich  bas-reliefs,  a 
small  figure  of  the  Baptist  standing  above  it  in  a  single  ray  of  light  that 
glances  across  the  narrow  room,  dying  as  it  falls  from  a  window  high  in 
the  wall,  and  the  first  thing  that  it  strikes,  and  the  only  thing  that  it 
strikes  rightly,  is  a  tomb.  We  hardly  know  if  it  be  a  tomb  indeed  ;  for 
it  is  like  a  narrow  couch  set  beside  the  window,  low-roofed  and  curtain- 
ed, so  that  it  might  seem,  but  that  it  is  some  height  above  the  pavement, 
to  have  been  drawn  towards  the  window,  that  the  sleeper  might  be 
wakened  early  ; — only  there  are  two  angels  who  have  drawn  the  curtains 
back,  and  are  looking  down  upon  him.  Let  us  look  also,  and  thank 
that  gentle  light  that  rests  upon  his  forehead  for  ever  and  dies  away 
upon  his  breast. 

'*  The  face  is  of  a  man  in  middle  life,  but  there  are  two  deep  furrows 
right  across  the  forehead,  dividing  it  like  the  foundations  of  a  tower; 
the  height  of  it  above  is  bound  by  the  fillet  of  his  ducal  cap.  The  rest 
of  the  features  are  singularly  small  and  delicate,  the  lips  sharp,  perhaps 
the  sharpness  of  death  being  added  to  that  of  the  natural  lines  ;  but 
there  is  a  sweet  smile  upon  them,  and  a  deep  serenity  upon  the  whole 
countenance.  The  roof  of  the  canopy  above  has  been  blue,  filled  with 
stars ;  beneath,  in  the  centre  of  the  tomb  on  which  the  figure  rests,  is  a 
seated  figure  of  the  Virgin,  and  the  border  of  it  all  around,  is  of  flowers 
and  soft  leaves,  growing  rich  and  deep,  as  if  in  a  field  in  summer. 

"It  is  the  Doge  Andrea  Dandolo,  a  man  early  great  among  the  great 
of  Venice,  and  early  lost.  She  chose  him  for  her  king  in  his  36th  year; 
he  died  ten  years  later,  leaving  behind  him  that  history  to  which  we  owe 
half  of  what  we  know  of  her  former  fortunes. 

"  Look  round  the  room  in  which  he  lies.  The  floor  of  it  is  in  rich 
mosaic,  encompassed  by  a  low  seat  of  red  marble,  and  its  walls  are  of 
alabaster,  but  worn  and  shattered,  and  darkly  stained  with  age,  almost 
a  ruin— in  places  the  slabs  of  marble  have  fallen  away  altogether,  and 


24  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

the  rugged  brickwork  is  seen  through  the  rents,  but  all  beautiful ;  the 
ravaging  fissures  fretting  their  way  among  the  islands  and  channelled 
zones  of  the  alabaster,  and  the  time-stains  on  its  translucent  masses 
darkened  into  fields  of  rich  golden  brown,  like  the  colour  of  sea-weed 
when  the  sun  strikes  on  it  through  deep  sea.  The  light  fades  away  into 
the  recess  of  the  chamber  towards  the  altar,  and  the  eye  can  hardly 
trace  the  lines  of  the  bas-relief  behind  it  of  the  Baptism  of  Christ :  but 
on  the  vaulting  of  the  roof  the  figures  are  distinct,  and  there  are  seen 
upon  it  two  great  circles,  one  sun-ounded  by  the  'principalities  and 
powers  in  heavenly  places,'  of  which  Milton  has  expressed  the  ancient 
division  in  the  single  massy  line, 

'Thrones,  Dominations,  Princedoms,  Virtues,  Powers,' 

and  around  the  other,  the  Apostles;  Christ  the  centre  of  both:  and 
upon  the  walls,  again  and  again  repeated,  the  gaunt  figure  of  the  Bap- 
tist, in  every  circumstance  of  his  life  and  death  ;  and  the  streams  of  the 
Jordan  running  down  between  their  cloven  rocks ;  the  axe  laid  to  the 
root  of  a  fruitless  tree  that  springs  upon  their  shore." — Ruskin,  Stones 
of  Venice. 

From  a  door  on  the  left  of  the  Baptistery  we  enter  the 
church  itself. 

"The  church  is  lost  in  a  deep  twilight,  to  which  the  eye  must  be 
accustomed  for  some  moments  before  the  form  of  the  building  can  be 
traced  ;  and  then  there  opens  before  us  a  vast  cave,  hewn  out  into  the 
form  of  a  cross,  and  divided  into  shadowy  aisles  by  many  pillars.  Round 
the  domes  of  its  roof  the  light  enters  only  through  narrow  apertures  like 
large  stars  ;  and  here  and  there  a  ray  or  two  from  some  far  away  case- 
ment wanders  into  the  darkness,  and  casts  a  narrow  phosphoric  stream 
■upon  the  waves  of  marble  that  heave  and  fall  in  a  thousand  colours  along 
the  floor.  What  else  there  is  of  light  is  from  torches,  or  silver  lamps, 
burning  ceaselessly  in  the  recesses  of  the  chapels  ;  the  roof  sheeted  with 
gold,  and  the  polished  walls  covered  with  alabaster,  give  back  at  every 
curve  and  angle  some  feeble  gleaming  to  the  flames  ;  and  the  glories 
round  the  heads  of  the  sculptured  saints  flash  out  upon  us  as  we  pass 
them,  and  sink  again  into  the  gloom.  Under  foot  and  over  head,  a  con- 
tinual succession  of  crowded  imagery,  one  picture  passing  into  another, 
as  in  a  dream ;  forms  beautiful  and  terrible  mixed  together ;  dragons 
and  serpents,  and  ravening  beasts  of  prey,  and  graceful  birds  that  in  the 
midst  of  them  drink  from  running  fountains  and  feed  from  vases  of 
crystal ;  the  passions  and  the  pleasures  of  human  life  sjTnbolized  toge- 
ther, and  the  mystery  of  its  redemption  ;  for  the  mazes  of  interwoven 
lines  and  changeful  pictures  lead   always  at  last  to   the    Cross,  lifted 


S.  MARCO.  25 

and  carved  in  every  place  and  upon  every  stone  ;  sometimes  with 
the  serpent  of  eternity  wrapt  round  it,  sometimes  with  doves  beneath  its 
arms  and  sweet  herbage  growing  forth  from  its  feet ;  but  conspicuous 
most  of  all  on  the  great  rood  that  crosses  the  church  before  the  altar, 
raised  in  bright  blazonry  against  the  shadow  of  the  apse.  And  although 
in  the  recesses  of  the  aisles  and  chapels,  when  the  mist  of  the  incense 
hangs  heavily,  we  may  see  continually  a  figure  traced  in  faint  lines  upon 
their  marble,  a  woman  standing  with  her  eyes  raised  to  heaven,  and  the 
inscription  above  her,  'Mother  of  God,'  she  is  not  here  the  presiding 
deity.  It  is  the  Cross  that  is  first  seen,  and  always,  burning  in  the  centre 
of  the  temple ;  and  every  dome  and  hollow  of  its  roof  has  the  figure  of 
Christ  in  the  utmost  height  of  it,  raised  in  power,  or  retunung  in  judg- 
ment."— Rtiskin,  Stones  of  Venice. 

It  is  the  general  impression,  not  the  detail,  of  S.  Mark's, 
which  makes  it  so  transcendent.  The  dim  effects  of  shadow 
amid  which  golden  gleams  here  and  there  illuminate  some 
precious  fragment  of  marble  wall,  or  the  peacock  hues  of 
a  portion  of  the  undulating  and  uneven  pavement,  makes 
those  who  have  any  artistic  feeling  care  little  for  the  technical 
details  of  architecture  and  sculpture.  On  the  left  is  the 
beautiful  little  octagonal  chapel  or  shrine  of  the  Holy  Cross. 
The  screen  of  the  choir  is  Greek,  surmounted  by  statues  by 
"yacobello  and  Pierpaolo  delle  Massegne,  1394,  and  between 
these  the  bronze  crucifix  of  Jacopo  di  Marco  Benato,  1394. 
The  choir  is  richly  adorned  with  intarsiatura  work,  above 
which  are  six  bronze  reliefs  telling  the  story  of  S.  Mark,  by 
Jacopo  Sansovino,  1546. 

Behind  the  High  Altar  is  the  famous  Pala  d'Oro,  which 
is  only  shown  on  the  highest  church  festivals. 

The  High  Altar  itself  covers  the  supposed  relics  of  S. 
Mark.  The  original  relics  were  destroyed  in  976,  by  fire, 
but  a  legend  has  made  them  good. 

"After  the  repairs  undertaken  by  the  Doge  Orseolo,  the  place  in 
which  the  body  of  the  holy  Evangelist  rested  had  been  altogether  for- 
gotten ;  so  that  the  Doge  Vital  Falier  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the  place 


26  .    ITALIAN  CITIES. 

of  the  venerable  deposit.  This  was  no  light  affliction,  not  only  to  the 
pious  Doge,  but  to  all  the  citizens  and  people  ;  so  that  at  last,  moved  by- 
confidence  in  the  Divine  mercy,  they  determined  to  implore,  with  prayer 
and  fasting,  the  manifestation  of  so  great  a  treasure,  which  did  not  now 
depend  upon  any  human  effort.  A  general  fast  being  therefore  proclaimed, 
and  a  solemn  procession  appointed  for  the  25th  day  of  June,  while  the 
people  assembled  in  the  church  interceded  with  God  in  fervent  prayer 
for  the  desired  boon,  they  beheld,  with  as  much  amazement  as  joy,  a 
slight  shaking  in  the  marbles  of  a  pillar  (near  the  place  where  the  altar 
of  the  Cross  is  now),  which  presently  falling  to  the  earth,  exposed  to 
the  view  of  the  rejoicing  people  the  chest  of  bronze  in  which  the  body 
of  the  Evangelist  was  laid." — Corner. 

Behind  the  High  Altar  on  the  left  is  a  small  bronze  door 
by  J.  Sansovino,  with  delicate  reliefs.  This  leads  to  the 
Sacristy,  adorned  with  16th-century  mosaics,  and  intarsiatura 
work  by  Antonio  and  Faolo  da  Mantova,  and  Fra  Vincenzo  da 
Verona,  1523. 

Beneath  the  Choir  is  an  interesting  O7// (open  from  12 
to  2)  supported  by  50  pillars  of  Greek  marble. 

From  the  south  Transept  is  the  entrance  to  the  Treasury 
(shown  on  Mondays  and  Fridays  from  12^  to  2),  which  con- 
tains a  very  interesting  collection  of  Byzantine  work.  The 
Episcopal  Throne  is  said  to  have  been  given  by  the 
Emperor  Heraclius  to  the  Patriarch  of  Grado.  The 
reliquary  of  the  True  Cross  was  given  in  11 20  to  Santa 
Sophia  of  Constantinople  by  Irene,  wife  of  the  Emperor 
Alexius  Comnenus. 

Having  visited  the  church  to  form  a  general  impression 
of  its  glories,  the  traveller  should  return  with  the  single  in- 
tention of  studying  the  Mosaics  and  observing  how  com- 
pletely they  are,  as  it  were,  an  epitome  and  history  of  the 
Christian  faith. 

' '  A  large  atrium  or  portico  is  attached  to  the  sides  of  the  church,  a 
space  which  was  especially  reserved  for  unbaptized  persons  and  new 


MOSAICS  OF  S.  MARCO.  27 

converts.  It  was  thought  right  that,  before  their  baptism,  these  persons 
should  be  led  to  contemplate  the  great  facts  of  the  Old  Testament 
history  ;  the  history  of  the  Fall  of  Man,  and  of  the  lives  of  the  Patriarchs 
up  to  the  period  of  the  Covenant  by  Moses  ;  the  order  of  the  subjects  in 
this  series  being  very  nearly  the  same  as  in  many  Northern  churches, 
but  significantly  closing  with  the  Fall  of  the  Manna,  in  order  to  mark 
to  the  catechumen  the  insufficiency  of  the  Mosaic  covenant  for  salvation, 
—  'Our  fathers  did  eat  Manna  in  the  wilderness,  and  are  dead,' — and 
to  turn  his  thoughts  to  the  true  bread  of  which  that  Manna  was  a  type. 
"  Then,  when  after  his  baptism  he  was  permitted  to  enter  the  church, 
over  its  main  entrance  he  saw,  on  looking  back,  a  mosaic  of  Christ  en- 
throned, with  the  Virgin  on  one  side  and  S.  Mark  on  the  other,  in 
attitudes  of  adoration.  Christ  is  represented  as  holding  a  book  open 
upon  his  knee,  on  which  is  written  :  '  I  am  the  door  ;  by  me  if  any  man 
enter  in,  he  shall  be  saved.'  On  the  red  marble  moulding  which  sur- 
rounds the  mosaic  is  written  :  '  I  am  the  gate  of  Life  ;  Let  those  who 
are  mine  enter  by  me.'  Above,  on  the  red  marble  fillet  which  forms 
the  cornice  of  the  west  end  of  the  church,  is  written,  with  reference  to 
the  figure  of  Christ  below  :  '  Who  He  was,  and  from  whom  Eie  came, 
and  at  what  price  He  redeemed  thee,  and  why  He  made  thee,  and  gave 
thee  all  things,  do  thou  consider.' 

"  Now  observe,  this  was  not  to  be  seen  and  read  only  by  the  cate- 
chumen when  he  entered  the  church  ;  every  one  who  at  any  time 
entered,  was  supposed  to  look  back  and  to  read  this  writing  ;  their  daily 
entrance  into  the  church  was  thus  made  a  daily  memorial  of  their  first 
entrance  into  the  spiritual  Church  ;  and  we  shall  find  that  the  rest  of  the 
book  which  was  opened  for  them  upon  its  walls,  continually  led  them 
in  the  same  manner  to  regard  the  visible  temple  as  in  every  part  a  type 
of  the  invisible  Church  of  God. 

"Therefore  the  mosaic  of  the  first  dome,  which  is  over  the  head  of 
the  spectator  as  soon  as  he  has  entered  by  the  great  door  (that  door 
being  the  type  of  baptism),  represents  the  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
as  the  first  consequence  and  seal  of  the  entrance  into  the  Church  of  God. 
In  the  centre  of  the  cupola  is  the  Dove,  enthroned  in  the  Greek  manner, 
as  the  Lamb  is  enthroned,  when  the  Divinity  of  the  Second  and  Third 
person  is  to  be  insisted  upon  together  with  their  peculiar  offices.  From 
the  central  symbol  of  the  Holy  Spirit  twelve  streams  of  fire  descend 
upon  the  heads  of  the  twelve  apostles,  who  are  represented  standing 
around  the  dome  ;  and  below  them,  between  the  windows  which  are 
pierced  in  its  walls,  are  represented,  by  groups  of  two  figures  for  each 
separate  people,  the  various  nations  who  heard  the  apostles  speak,  at 
Pentecost,  every  man  in  his  own  tongue.     Finally,  on  the  vaults,  at  the 


28  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

four  angles  which  support  the  cupola,  are  pictured  four  angels,  each 
bearing  a  tablet  upon  the  end  of  a  rod  in  his  hand ;  on  each  of  the 
tablets  of  the  three  first  angels  is  inscribed  the  word  '  Holy ' ;  on  that 
of  the  fourth  is  written  *  Lord ';  and  the  beginning  of  the  hymn  being 
thus  put  into  the  mouths  of  the  four  angels,  the  words  of  it  are  continued 
round  the  border  of  the  dome,  uniting  praise  to  God  for  the  gift  of  the 
Spirit,  with  welcome  to  the  redeemed  soul  received  into  his  Church  ; 

Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth  : 
Heaven  and  earth  are  full  of  thy  glory : 

Hosanna  in  the  highest  : 
Blessed  is  He  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

And  observe  in  this  writing  that  the  convert  is  required  to  regard  the 
outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  especially  as  a  work  of  sanctification.  It 
is  the  holiness  of  God  manifested  in  the  giving  of  His  Spirit  to  sanctify 
those  who  had  become  His  children,  which  the  four  angels  celebrate  in 
their  ceaseless  praise ;  and  it  is  on  account  of  this  holiness  that  the 
heaven  and  earth  are  said  to  be  full  of  His  glory. 

"  After,  then,  hearing  praise  rendered  to  God  by  the  angels  for  the 
salvation  of  the  newly-entered  soul,  it  was  thought  fittest  that  the  wor- 
shippers should  be  led  to  contemplate,  in  the  most  comprehensive  forms 
possible,  the  past  evidence  and  the  future  hopes  of  Christianity,  as 
summed  up  in  the  three  facts  without  assurance  of  which  all  faith  is  vaiu  ; 
namely,  that  Christ  died,  that  He  rose  again,  and  that  He  ascended 
into  heaven,  there  to  prepare  a  place  for  His  elect.  On  the  vault  be- 
tween the  first  and  second  cupolas  are  represented  the  crucifixion  and 
resurrection  of  Christ,  with  the  usual  series  of  intermediate  scenes — the 
treason  of  Judas,  the  judgment  of  Pilate,  the  crowning  with  thorns,  the 
descent  into  Hades,  the  visit  of  the  women  to  the  sepulchre,  and  the 
apparition  to  Mary  Magdalone.  The  second  cupola  itself,  which  is  the 
central  and  principal  one  of  the  church,  is  entirely  occupied  by  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Ascension.  At  the  highest  point  of  it  Christ  is  represented 
as  rising  into  the  blue  heaven,  borne  up  by  four  angels,  and  throned 
upon  a  rainbow,  the  tyj^e  of  reconciliation.  Beneath  him,  the  twelve 
apostles  are  seen  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives,  with  the  Madomia,  and,  in 
the  midst  of  them,  the  .two  men  in  white  apparel  who  appeared  at  the 
moment  of  the  Ascension,  above  whom,  as  uttered  by  them,  are  in- 
scribed the  words,  *  Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  gazing  up  into 
heaven  ?  This  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  as  He  is  taken  from  you,  shall 
so  come,  the  arbiter  of  the  earth,  trusted  to  do  judgment  and  justice.' 

"  Beneath  the  circle  of  the  apostles,  between  the  windows  of  the  cupola, 
ar«  represented  the  Christian  virtues,  as  sequent  upon  the  cnicifixioa  of 


MOSAICS  OF  S.  MARCO.  29 

the  flesh,  and  the  spiritual  ascension  together  with  Christ.  Beneath 
them,  on  the  vaults  which  support  the  angles  of  the  cupola,  are  placed 
the  four  evangelists,  because  on  their  evidence  our  assurance  of  the  fact 
of  the  Ascension  rests  ;  and  finally  beneath  our  feet,  as  symbols  of  the 
sweetness  and  fulness  of  the  Gospel  which  they  declared,  are  represented 
the  four  rivers  of  Paradise,  Pison,  Gihon,  Tigris,  and  Euphrates. 

"  The  third  cupola,  that  over  the  altar,  represents  the  witness  of  the 
Old  Testament  to  Christ ;  showing  Him  enthroned  in  its  centre,  and 
surrounded  by  the  patriarchs  and  prophets.  But  this  dome  was  little 
seen  by  the  people ;  their  contemplation  was  intended  to  be  chiefly 
drawn  to  that  of  the  centre  of  the  church,  and  thus  the  mind  of  the  wor- 
shippers was  at  once  fixed  on  the  main  ground-work  and  hope  of  Christi- 
anity,— 'Christ  is  risen,'  and  'Christ  shall  come.'  If  he  had  time  to 
explore  the  minor  lateral  chapels  and  cupolas,  he  could  find  in  them  the 
whole  series  of  New  Testament  history,  the  events  of  the  Life  of  Christ, 
and  the  apostolic  miracles  in  their  order,  and  finally  the  scenery  of  the 
Book  of  Revelation  ;  but  if  he  only  entered,  as  often  the  common  people 
do  at  this  hour,  snatching  a  few  moments  before  beginning  the  labour 
of  the  day  to  offer  up  an  ejaculatory  prayer,  and  advanced  but  from  the 
main  entrance  as  far  as  the  altar  screen,  all  the  splendour  of  the  glitter- 
ing nave  and  variegated  dome,  if  they  smote  upon  his  heart,  as  they 
might  often,  in  strange  contrast  with  his  reed  cabin  among  the  shallows 
of  the  lagoon,  smote  upon  it  only  that  they  might  proclaim  the  two 
great  messages, — 'Christ  is  risen,'  and  'Christ  shall  come.'  Daily,  as 
the  white  cupolas  rose  like  wreaths  of  sea-foam  in  the  dawn,  while 
the  shadowy  campanile  and  frowning  palace  were  still  withdrawn  into 
the  night,  tlrey  rose  with  the  Easter  Voice  of  Triumph, — '  Christ  is 
risen  ; '  and  daily,  as  they  looked  down  upon  the  tumult  of  the  people, 
deepening  and  eddying  in  the  wide  square  that  opened  from  their  feet 
to  the  sea,  they  uttered  above  them  the  sentence  of  warning, — 'Christ 
shall  come.' 

' '  And  this  thought  may  dispose  the  reader  to  look  with  some  change  of 
temper  upon  the  gorgeous  building  and  wild  blazonry  of  that  shrine  of 
S.  Mark's.  He  now  perceives  that  it  was  in  the  hearts  of  the  old 
Venetian  people  far  more  than  a  place  of  worship.  It  was  at  once  a 
type  of  the  Redeemed  Church  of  God,  and  a  scroll  for  the  written  word 
of  God.  It  was  to  be  to  them,  both  an  image  of  the  Bride,  all  glorious 
within,  her  clothing  of  wrought  gold  ;  and  the  actual  Table  of  the  Law 
and  the  Testimony,  written  within  and  without.  And  whether  honoured 
as  the  Church,  or  as  the  Bible,  was  it  not  fitting  that  neither  the  gold 
nor  the  crystal  should  be  spared  in  the  adornment  of  it ;  that,  as  the 
symbol  of  the  Bride,  the  building  of  the  wall  thereof  should  be  of  jasper, 


30  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

and  the  foundations  of  it  garnished  with  all  manner  of  precious  stones  ; 
and  that,  as  the  channel  of  the  Word,  the  triumphant  utterance  of  the 
Psalmist  should  be  true  of  it, — *  I  have  rejoiced  in  the  way  of  thy  testi- 
monies, as  much  as  in  all  riches '  ?" — Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice. 

Travellers  will  find  it  wearisome,  almost  impossible,  to 
examine  all  the  mosaics  of  S.  Mark's.  But  among  the  col- 
lateral series  is  one  of  special  interest  upon  the  soffit  of  the 
arch  which  overhangs  the  western  triforium. 

"  This  series  of  compositions,  from  the  early  history  of  the  Virgin,  is 
derived  from  the  Protevangelion  or  apocryphal  gospel  of  S.  Thomas, 
little  known  in  the  Latin  Church.  In  her  Marriage,  she  is  represented 
as  a  little  girl  of  twelve  years  old.  In  the  Annunciation,  she  is  in  the 
act  of  drawing  water  at  a  fountain  in  front  of  the  house,  and  the  angel 
addresses  her,  floating  in  the  air.  In  the  compartment  which  follows, 
she  receives  from  the  hand  of  the  High  Priest,  at  the  doors  of  the  temple, 
a  vase  containing  the  purple  with  which  it  had  fallen  to  her  lot  to  dye 
the  new  veil  of  the  sanctuary — six  virgins,  of  the  house  of  David,  are  in 
attendance  on  her.  In  the  Salutation,  she  is  represented  as  of  full 
stature,  being  then,  according  to  the  Protevangelion,  fourteen  years  old  ; 
— to  the  right,  in  the  same  composition,  Joseph — to  whom  she  had  been 
entrusted,  not  so  much  as  a  husband  as  a  guardian  of  her  virginity —  vin- 
dicates himself  by  the  '  water  of  trial '  from  the  suspicion  of  having  '  pri- 
vately married  '  her.  In  the  seventh  of  the  series,  the  angel  appears  to 
Joseph,  revealing  the  mystery  of  her  conception  ;  and  in  the  eighth  is 
represented  the  journey  to  Bethlehem  before  Our  Saviour  was  bom. 
The  series  is  continued  on  the  adjacent  wall,  but  by  modem  artists,  the 
earlier  compositions  having  perished.  These  eight  mosaics  have  much 
merit,  and  are  evidently  a  good  deal  later  than  those  of  the  cupolas,  the 
porch,  Murano  and  Torcello." — Lord  Lindsay's  Christian  Art. 

From  S.  Mark's  the  traveller  must  turn  to  the  Palace  by 
its  side,  of  which  till  a  few  years  ago  it  was  only  the  chapel 
(Capella  Ducale).  Its  court-yard  is  always  open.  Its 
chambers  may  be  visited  on  week-days  from  9  to  4. 

A  Palazzo  Ducale  was  first  built  in  820  by  Doge  Angelo 
Participazio,  the  first  ruler  of  the  Venetian  colonists.  It  was 
a  Byzantine  Palace,  and  we  know  from  contemporary  writers 
that  it  was  of  great  magnificence.     Probably  it  somewhat 


THE  PALAZZO  DUCALE.  31 

resembled  the  "  Fondaco  dei  Turchi."  It  received  great 
additions  during  the  12th  century,  especially  from  the  Doge 
Sebastiano  Ziani,  who  "  enlarged  it  in  every  direction."  In 
the  14th  century  the  great  saloon  was  built,  with  many  other 
important  additions ;  but  the  palace  of  Ziani  still  remained, 
though  contrasting  ill  with  the  splendours  of  the  later  build- 
ing, and  so  strong  was  the  feeling  that  it  ought  to  be  rebuilt, 
that,  to  save  the  vast  expense,  and  fearing  their  own  weak- 
ness, the  Senate  passed  a  decree  forbidding  any  one  to  speak 
of  rebuilding  the  old  palace,  under  a  penalty  of  a  thousand 
ducats.  But  in  1419  a  fire  occurred  which  destroyed  part 
of  the  old  buildings  ;  a  decree  for  rebuilding  the  palace 
was  passed  under  Doge  Mocenigo  in  1422,  and  the  work 
was  carried  out  under  his  successor  Doge  Foscari. 

"  The  first  hammer-stroke  upon  the  old  palace  of  Ziani  was  the  first 
act  of  the  period  properly  called  the  '  Renaissance. '  It  was  the  knell  of 
the  architecture  of  Venice — and  of  Venice  herself. 

"  A  year  had  not  elapsed  since  the  great  Doge  Mocenigo  :  his  patriot- 
ism, always  sincere,  had  been  in  this  instance  mistaken  ;  in  his  zeal  for 
the  honour  of  future  Venice,  he  had  forgotten  what  was  due  to  the  Venice 
of  long  ago.  A  thousand  palaces  might  be  built  upon  her  burdened 
islands,  but  none  of  them  could  take  the  place,  or  recall  the  memory,  of 
that  which  was  first  built  upon  her  unfrequented  shore.  It  fell ;  and,  as 
if  it  had  been  the  talisman  of  her  fortunes,  the  city  never  flourished 
again. " — Ruskin. 

In  1574  another  great  fire  destroyed  the  upper  rooms  of 
the  sea  fa9ade  and  almost  the  whole  of  the  interior  of  the 
palace,  and  it  was  debated  in  the  Great  Council  whether  the 
ruin  should  not  be  destroyed  and  an  entirely  new  palace 
built ;  but  it  was  saved  by  the  advice  of  an  architect  named 
Giovanni  Rusconi,  and  the  completion  of  the  repairs  necessi- 
tated at  this  time  brought  the  edifice  into  its  present  form  ; 
the  architects  employed  were  three  members  of  the  family 


32  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

of  Bon  or  Buono,  and  to  them  the  two  principal  colonnades 
are  due. 

The  outer  walls  of  the  palace  rest  upon  the  pillars  of  open 
colonnades,  which  have  a  more  stumpy  appearance  than  was 
intended,  owing  to  the  raising  of  the  pavement  in  the  piazza. 
They  had  however  no  bases,  but  were  supported  by  a  con- 
tinuous stylobate.  The  chief  decorations  of  the  palace  were 
employed  upon  the  capitals  of  these  pillars,  and  it  was  felt 
that  the  peculiar  prominence  and  importance  given  to  its 
angles,  rendered  it  necessary  that  they  should  be  enriched 
and  softened  by  sculpture.  One  of  the  corners  of  the 
palace  joined  the  irregular  buildings,  connected  with  S. 
Mark's,  and  is  not  generally  seen.  There  remained  there- 
fore only  three  angles  to  be  decorated.  The  first  main 
sculpture  may  be  called  "  the  Fig-tree  angle,"  and  its  sub- 
ject is  "the  Fall  of  Man."  The  second  is  "the  Vine 
angle,"  and  represents  the  "  Drunkenness  of  Noah."  The 
third  sculpture  is  the  "  Judgment  angle,"  and  portrays  the 
"  Judgment  of  Solomon." 

"  In  both  the  subjects  of  the  Fall  and  the  Drunkenness,  the  tree  forms 
the  chiefly  decorative  portion  of  the  sculpture.  Its  trunk,  in  both  cases, 
is  the  true  outer  angle  of  the  palace — boldly  cut  separate  from  the  stone- 
work behind,  and  branching  out  above  the  figures  so  as  to  encompass 
each  side  of  the  angle,  for  several  feet,  with  its  deep  foliage.  Nothing 
can  be  more  masterly  or  superb  than  the  sweep  of  this  foliage  on  the 
Fig-tree  angle  ;  the  broad  leaves  lapping  round  the  budding  fruit,  and 
sheltering  from  sight,  beneath  their  shadows,  birds  of  the  most  graceful 
form  and  delicate  plumage.  The  branches  are,  however,  so  strong,  and 
the  masses  of  stone  hewn  into  leafage  so  large,  that,  notwithstanding 
the  depths  of  the  under  cutting,  the  work  remains  nearly  uninjured ; 
not  so  at  the  (opposite)  Vine-angle,  where  the  natural  delicacy  of  the 
vine-leaf  and  tendril  having  tempted  the  sculptor  to  greater  effort,  he 
has  passed  the  proper  limits  of  his  art,  and  cut  the  upper  stems  so  deli- 
cately that  half  of  them  have  been  broken  away  by  the  casualties  to 
which  the  situation  of  the  sculpture  necessarily  exposes  it." — Ruskin, 


SCALA  DEI  GIGANTL 


33 


The  varied  sculpture  of  the  capitals  of  the  thirty-six  pillars 
of  the  colonnade  is  most  interesting  and  often  most  beautiful. 

The  Doge's  Palace  was  not  merely  the  residence  of  the 
chief  of  the  state.  It  was,  like  our  Palace  of  Westminster, 
the  place  where  all  the  councils  of  state  were  held. 

"  In  the  early  times  of  Venice,  the  Doges  possessed  supreme  power, 
unfettered  by  councils.  But  defects  being  perceived  in  this  form  of 
government,  a  Grand  Council  was  established  by  consent  of  the  people, 
consisting  of  four  hundred  and  eighty  men  of  high  birth. 

"The  grand  council  soon  limited  the  Doge's  prerogatives,  and  ap- 
pointed a  Council  of  Forty  to  administer  criminal  justice.  A  Council  of 
Sixty  assisted  the  Doge  in  administering  domestic  and  foreign  affairs, 
and  the  famous  Council  of  Ten  held  authority  over  the  other  councils, 
and  privately  investigated  and  punished  all  state  crimes. 

"  The  Doge  was  bound  to  have  no  private  correspondence  with  foreign 
states,  to  acquire  no  property  beyond  the  Venetian  dominions,  to  inter- 
fere in  no  judicial  process,  and  to  permit  no  citizen  to  use  tokens  of  sub- 
jection in  saluting  him. 

"  It  was  a  serious  matter  to  be  Doge  of  Venice.  Five  of  the  first 
fifty  Doges  abdicated  ;  five  were  banished,  with  their  eyes  put  out;  nine 
were  deposed  ;  five  were  massacred  ;  and  two  fell  in  battle."— .S/(7;j  of 
Italy. 

The  Palace  is  entered  from  the  Piazzetta  by  the  beau- 
tiful Porta  delta  Carta,  which  is  inscribed  with  the  name  of 
its  architect  Bartolo7tieo  Bon  (1440 — 1443).  The  statues 
of  Courage,  Prudence,  Hope,  and  Charity,  with  Justice 
throned  above  between  the  Lions,  are  also  by  the  Bon  or 
Buoni  family.  A  beautiful  sculpture  which  formerly  existed 
here,  representing  Doge  Francesco  Foscari  kneeling  before 
the  Lion  of  S.  Mark,  Avas  destroyed  by  the  mob  in  1797. 

Opposite  the  gate  is  the  famous  Scala  dei  Giganti,  built 
by  Antonio  Rizzi  in  1485.  It  derives  its  name  from  the 
colossal  statues  of  Mars  and  Neptune  wrought  by  Jacopo 
Sansovino  in  1554.  At  the  head  of  the  stairs  the  Doges 
were  crowned,  with  the  words  :  "  Accipe  coronam  ducalem 

VOL.    II.  3 


34  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

ducatus  Venetorum."      Here  also  a  tradition,  followed  by- 
Byron,  places  the  execution  of  Doge  Marino  Faliero. 

Marino  Faliero,  formerly  Podesta  of  Treviso,  was  chosen  Doge  in 
1354,  being  then  an  old  man.  Of  very  choleric  temper,  resentment  at 
the  slight  punishment  inflicted  by  the  Council  of  Forty  upon  Ser  Michele 
Steno,  who  had  written  some  scurrilous  abuse  of  him  upon  his  wooden 
chair,  and  the  desire  of  punishing  them,  was  his  first  incentive  to  seize 
the  supreme  power.  A  conspiracy  was  engaged  in  by  which  all  the 
principal  citizens,  called  together  by  the  great  bell  on  April  15,  1355, 
were  to  be  cut  to  pieces,  and  Faliero  proclaimed  sovereign.  It  was 
exposed,  through  the  warning  given  to  his  master  by  Beltram,  a  servant 
of  one  of  those  who  were  doomed.  The  Council  of  Ten  was  hastily 
summoned,  the  minor  conspirators  were  first  executed.  Then  the  Doge, 
stripped  of  his  insignia  of  office,  was  beheaded  in  the  closed  palace,  and 
one  of  the  council,  taking  the  bloody  sword  to  the  space  between  the 
columns  where  public  executions  were  usually  held,  brandished  it 
saying — "  The  terrible  doom  hath  fallen  on  the  traitor." 

In  the  court  are  two  handsome  bronze  well-heads  (Pu- 
teali),  one  by  Nicolh  de  Conti,  1536,  the  other  by  Alfonso 
Alborgetti,  1559. 

On  the  left  of  the  loggia,  reached  by  the  Giant's  Staircase, 
is  the  Scala  d'Oro,  so  called  from  the  richness  of  its  decora- 
tions, built  by  Jacopo  Sansovino,  1556-77. 

Beyond  this,  are  the  Tre  Stanze  degli  Avvogadori,  the 
lawyers  who  kept  the  famous  Libro  d'Oro,  which  was  the 
peerage  of  the  Venetian  aristocracy.  In  one  of  the 
chambers  of  these  rooms  is  a  Pietk  by  Giov.  Bellini,  1472. 

Ascending  the  next  staircase  to  the  top,  we  should  next 
enter  from  the  left  a  suite  of  rooms  which  are  a  perfect 
gallery  of  16th-century  art  at  Venice  :  many  of  the  pictures 
have  however  been  grievously  repainted. 

"As  the  oldest  Venetian  painting  has  immortalised  itself  in  the 
Church  of  S.  Mark,  so  the  latest,  that  of  the  followers  of  Titian,  has 
perpetuated  itself  in  the  Ducal  Palace." — Biirckhardt. 


THE  BOCCA  DI  LEONE.  35 

Here  we  first  become  acquainted  with  Tintoret,  whom 
we  must  know  intimately  before  we  leave  Venice.  There 
is  probably  no  great  master  upon  whose  excellence  so  great 
a  difference  of  opinion  has  existed.  Before  his  vast  pictures 
were  illuminated  and  explained  by  the  writings  of  Ruskin, 
there  were  few  who  saw  more  than  their  huge  uncouthness, 
coarseness,  and  blackness.  Now  the  deep  meaning  and 
careful  intention  with  which  they  were  painted  has  been  re- 
vealed to  us.  Yet  even  now  most  of  those  who  look  upon 
them,  and  all  those  who  look  upon  them  hastily,  will  see 
only  their  dark  side  : 

"  Along  with  much  that  was  grand,  there  was  in  Tintoret  a  certain 
coarseness  and  barbarism  of  feeling ;  even  his  artistic  morality  often 
wavered,  so  that  he  was  capable  of  descending  to  the  most  unconscien- 
tious daubing.  He  fails  in  the  higher  sense  of  law,  which  the  artist 
must  impose  on  himself,  especially  in  experiments  and  innovations.  In 
his  enormous  works  which  in  square  feet  of  painted  surface  amount 
perhaps  to  ten  times  as  much  as  the  fruits  of  Titian's  century  of  life, 
one  begins  to  surmise  that  he  undertook  such  things  like  a  contractor, 
and  executed  them  very  much  as  an  improvisor." — Burckhardt. 

We  first  enter  the  Sala  della  JBussoIa,  which  was  the  Ante- 
Chamber  of  the  Council  of  Ten.  In  the  time  of  the  Re- 
public '  chiamar  a  la  Bussola  '  meant  to  drag  a  man  before 
the  state  Inquisition.  Here  is  the  inner  opening  of  the 
famous  Bocca  di  Leone — the  Lion's  Mouth — through  which 
secret  denunciations  were  handed  in.  On  the  walls  are 
pictures  by  Aliense,  of  the  surrender  of  Bergamo  and 
Brescia  to  the  Venetians. 

Hence  we  enter  the  Sala  del  Capi,  that  is — of  the  three 
Presidents  of  the  Council  of  Ten.  The  fine  15th-century 
chimney-piece  is  by  Pietro  da  Salb;  the  ceiling  by  Paul 
Veronese. 

The  Atrio  Quadrate,  which  leads  to  the  Scala  d'Oro,  has 
a  ceiling  by  Tintoret. 


■36  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  Sala  delle  Quattro  Porte,  built  by  Palladio  in  1575, 
has  a  ceiUng  designed  by  Palladio  and  Sansovino,  and  car- 
ried out  by  Vittoria.  Its  frescoes  are  by  Tuitoret.  The 
principal  pictures  are  : — 

Wall  of  Entrance. — 

Giov.  Contarini.     The  capture  of  Verona  by  the  Venetians  in  1439. 
Titian.     Antonio  Grimani  at  the  feet  of  Faith. 
Contarini.     Marino  Grimani  kneeling  before  the  Virgin. 

Wall  of  Exit. — 

Carletto  Cagliari.     The  ambassadors  of  Nuremberg. 

Andrea  Vicentino.     Henry  III.  of  France  arriving  at  the  Lido,  and 

his  reception  by  the  Doge  Mocenigo. 
C.   Caliari.     The  reception  of  the  Persian   ambassadors  by  Doge 

Cicogna,  1585. 

The  door  opposite  that  by  which  we  entered  leads  to — 
The  Anticollegio,  containing  : 

Tintoretto.     Ariadne  and  Bacchus, 

Id.     Minerva  and  Mars. 

P.  Veronese.     Tlie  Rape  of  Europa. 

"La  merveille  de  ce  sanctuaire  de  I'art  est  I Enlhjement  <! Europe. 
La  belle  jeune  fille  est  assise,  comme  sur  un  trone  d'argent,  sur  le  dos 
du  taureau  divin,  dont  le  poitrail  de  neige  va  s'enfoncer  dans  la  mer 
bleue  qui  tache  d'atteindre  de  ses  lames  amoureuses  la  plante  des  pieds 
qu'Europe  releve  par  une  enfantine  peur  de  se  mouiller,  detail  ingenieux 
des  metamorphoses  que  le  peintre  n'a  eu  garde  d'oublier.  Les  com- 
pagnes  d'Europe,  ne  sachant  pas  qu'un  dieu  se  cache  sous  la  noble 
forme  de  ce  bel  animal  si  doux  et  si  familier,  s'empressent  sur  la  rive  et 
lui  jettent  des  guirlandes  de  fleurs,  sans  se  douter  qu'Europe,  ainsi 
enlevee,  va  nommer  un  continent  et  devenir  la  maitresse  de  Zeus  aux 
noirs  sourcils  et  a  la  chevelure  ambroisienne.  Quelles  belles  epaules 
blanches  !  quelles  nuques  blondes  aux  nattes  enroulees  !  quels  bras  ronds 
et  charmants  !  quel  sourire  d'etemelle  jeunesse  dans  cette  toile  merveil- 
leuse,  oil  Paul  Veronese  semble  avoir  dit  son  dernier  mot !  Ciel,  nuages, 
arbres,  fleurs,  terrains,  mer,  carnation,  draperies,  tout  parait  trempe 
dans  la  lumiere  d'un  Elysee  inconnu." — Gautier. 

Leandro  Bassano.     The  Return  of  Jacob  to  Canaan. 


TINTORET  AND  PAUL  VERONESE.  37 

Tintoretto.     The  Workshop  of  Vulcan. 

Id.     Mercury  with  the  Graces. 

P.  Veronese.     Venice  throned  (on  the  ceiling). 

The  chimney-piece  and  a  beautiful  door  are  by  Scamozzu 
Through  this  we  reach  ; 

The  Sala  di  Collegio,  in  which  foreign  ambassadors  were 

received  by  the  Doge. 

"  Nous  retrouvons  ici  Tintoret  et  Paul  Veronese,  I'un  roux  et  violent, 
I'autre  azure  et  calme  ;  le  premier  fait  pour  les  grands  pans  de  muraille, 
le  second  pour  les  plafonds  immenses." — Gantier. 

The  best  pictures,  beginning  at  the  further  side  on  the 
right,  are  : 

C.   CagUari.     Doge  Alvise  Mocenigo  adoring  the  Saviour. 

P.  Veronese  (over  the  throne).  A  votive  allegorical  picture  representing 
the  triumph  of  Venice  after  the  victory  of  Lepanto,  15  71.  Por- 
traits are  introduced  of  Doge  Sebastiano  Venier,  the  hero  of  the 
Battle  of  Lepanto,  and  of  Agostino  Barbarigo,  who  perished  there. 

Tintoretto.     Doge  Andrea  Gritti  adoring  the  Virgin  and  Child. 

"It  was  no  doubt  the  passage  of  the  Psalmist — Non  nobis,  Domine, 
non  nobis,  sed  nomini  tuo  da  gloriam, — which  was  so  often  repeated  by 
the  Venetians  in  the  crusades,  which  suggested  to  the  doges  and  naval 
commanders  the  idea  of  being  represented  in  a  kneeling  attitude  before 
the  infant  Christ  or  the  holy  Virgin,  in  the  pictures  destined  to  transmit 
their  names,  or  the  recollection  of  their  exploits,  to  future  generations. 
This  mode  of  pious  commemoration,  which  offers  the  touching  contrast 
of  a  humble  attitude  with  great  dignity  or  glory,  continued  in  use  during 
the  whole  of  the  sixteenth  century,  in  spite  of  the  paganism  so  univer- 
sally triumphant  elsewhere.  After  Giovanni  Bellini  and  Catena,  came 
the  celebrated  artists  who  adorned  the  second  period  of  the  Venetian 
school,  and  who  also  paid  the  tribute  of  their  pencil  to  this  interesting 
subject.  It  is  on  this  account  that  pictures  representing  the  Madonna 
seated,  with  a  doge  or  a  general  kneeling  before  her,  are  so  frequently 
to  be  met  with  in  private  collections,  in  the  churches,  and  above  all  in 
the  Ducal  palace,  in  which  these  allegorical  compositions,  intended  to 
express  the  close  alliance  between  Religion  and  the  State,  seem  to  have 
been  purposely  multiplied." — Rio. 

The  chimney-piece  is  by  Girolatno  Campag7ia,  the  ceiling 


38  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

designed  by  Antonio  da  Ponte  and  painted  by  Paul  Veronese. 
The  Sala  del  Senato  or  dei  Pregadi  contains  (turning  to 
the  left  from  the  main  entrance)  : — 

Palma  Giovane,     (Over  door)  The  two  Doges  Priuli  in  prayer. 

y.  Tintoretto.     Doge  Pietro  Loredan  praying  to  the  Virgin. 

Marco  Vecelli.  The  election  of  S.  Lorenzo  Giustiniani  to  the  Patri- 
archate of  Venice. 

Palma  Giovane.  The  League  of  Cambray — Venice  seated  in  de- 
fiance upon  a  lion. 

Id.     Doge  Pasquale  Cicogna  kneeling  before  the  Saviour. 

Id.     Doge  Francesco  Venier  before  Venice. 

J.  Tintoretto,  The  Deposition  of  Christ,  with  saints  and  doges 
kneeling. 

Id.     (In  the  centre  of  the  ceiling)  Venice  as  Queen  of  the  Sea. 

The  Ante-Chapel  contains  : — 

Bonifazio.     Christ  expelling  the  Money-changers. 

Seb.  Rizzi.     Cartoons  for  the  mosaics  of  the  story  of  S.  Mark  on  the 

Cathedral. 
y.  Tintoretto.     Saints. 

The  Chapel,  an  oratory  where  the  Doge  heard  mass,  has 
an  altar  by  Scatnozzi,  and  a  statue  of  the  Madonna  by 
Sansovino. 

At  the  foot  of  the  staircase  leading  dowTi  from  the  Chapel 
to  the  Doges'  private  apartments  is  a  fresco  of  S.  Christopher, 
of  great  interest,  as  being  the  only  known  fresco  of  Titian. 
It  is  supposed  to  have  been  painted  in  honour  of  the  arrival 
of  the  French  (Sept.  13,  1523)*  at  the  village  of  S.  Cristo- 
foro  near  Milan.  This  was  the  political  event  of  the  year,  and 
much  to  the  satisfaction  of  Titian's  patron.  Doge  Andrea 
Gritti,  concerning  whom  Richard  Pace  wrote  from  Venice 
to  Wolsey  in  May,  1523, — "  He  is  maydde  to  be  a  perfect 
Frenchman  and  for  thys  consideration  the  French  ambas- 

*  "  15231  Sept.  13."    Vennero  (i  Frances!)  a  San  Cristoforo  a  un  miglio   pressa  a 
Milano  tra  Porta  Ticinese  e  Porta  Romana." — Guicciardini,  vol.  III.  404. 


THE  PIOMBL  39 

sador  resident  here  made  grete  festes  and  triumphs  when  he 
was  chosen."  The  satisfaction  of  the  Doge  and  the  poHtical 
allusion  were  better  concealed  than  if  S.  Louis  or  S.  Denis 
had  been  represented.  This  fresco  is  only  shown  by  special 
permission  of  the  Conservatorio.  It  is  one  of  the  grandest 
pictures  in  Venice — the  head  of  S.  Christopher  most  care- 
fully executed,  and  of  the  noblest  Venetian  type.  The 
Child  is  a  mundane  infant,  afraid  of  falling,  and  very 
inferior. 

Returning  by  the  Sala  del  Senato  and  the  Sala  delle 
Quattro  Porte,  we  reach  the  Sala  del  Consiglio  del  Died, 
containing,  with  other  pictures  : — 

Leandro  Bassano.  Pope  Alexander  III.  meeting  Doge  Sebastiano 
Ziani  on  his  return  from  his  victory  over  Frederick  Barbarossa. 

Aliense.     The  Visit  of  the  Magi. 

Marco  Vecelli,     The  Treaty  between  Charles  V.  and  Clement  VII. 

Paul  Veronese.  (On  the  ceiling)  '*  The  old  man  with  the  young 
wife." 

From  the  Anti-CoUegio  a  staircase  leads  to  the  famous 
Fiombi,  the  "  Prisons  under  the  leads,"  of  which  G.  Casanova, 
who  was  imprisoned  there  in  1755,  has  left  such  a  dramatic 
description. 

"  But  let  us  to  the  roof, 
And,  when  thou  hast  surveyed  the  sea,  the  land, 
Visit  the  narrow  cells  that  cluster  there. 
As  in  a  place  of  tombs.     There  burning  suns, 
Day  after  day,  beat  unrelentingly  ; 
Turning  all  things  to  dust,  and  scorching  up 
The  brain,  till  Reason  fled,  and  the  wild  yell 
And  wilder  laugh  burst  out  on  every  side, 
Answering  each  other  as  in  mockery  ! 

Few  Houses  of  the  size  were  better  filled  ; 
Though  many  came  and  left  it  in  an  hour. 
'  Most  nights,'  so  said  the  good  old  Nicolo, 
(For  three  and  thirty  years  his  uncle  kept 


49  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  water-gate  below,  but  seldom  spoke, 

Though  much  was  on  his  mind,)  '  most  nights  arrived 

The  prison-boat,  that  boat  with  many  oars, 

And  bore  away  as  to  the  Lower  World, 

Disburdening  in  the  Canal  Orfano, 

That  drowning-place,  where  never  net  was  thrown, 

Summer  or  Winter,  death  the  penalty  ; 

And  where  a  secret,  once  deposited. 

Lay  till  the  waters  should  give  up  their  dead.'  " — Rogers. 

The  Ponte  dei  Sospiri  across  which  prisoners  were  led  to 
hear  their  condemnation  (whence  the  name)  leads  from  the 
palace  to  the  prisons  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rio  Canal, 

"  The  Rio  Fa9ade  of  the  Ducal  Palace  (seen  from  the  Bridge  of 
Sighs)  though  very  sparing  in  colour,  is  yet,  as  an  example  of  finished 
masonry  in  a  vast  building,  one  of  the  finest  things,  not  only  in  Venice, 
but  in  the  world.  It  differs  from  every  other  work  of  the  Byzantine 
Renaissance,  in  being  on  a  very  large  scale  ;  and  it  still  retains  one  pure 
Gothic  character,  which  adds  a  little  to  its  nobleness,  that  of  perpetual 
variety.  There  is  hardly  one  window  of  it,  or  one  panel,  that  is  like 
another  ;  and  this  continual  change  so  increases  its  apparent  size  by  con- 
fusing the  eye,  that  though  presenting  no  bold  features,  or  strikmg 
masses  of  any  kind,  there  are  few  things  in  Italy  more  impressive  than 
the  vision  of  it  overhead,  as  the  gondola  glides  from  beneath  the  Bridge 
of  Sighs."' — Stones  of  Venice,  iii.  25. 

The  most  dreaded  of  the  Prisons  are  the  Pozzi. 

"  I  descended  from  the  cheerful  day  into  two  ranges,  one  below  an- 
other, of  dismal,  awful,  horrible  stone  cells.  They  were  quite  dark. 
Each  had  a  loop-hole  in  its  massive  wall,  where,  in  the  old  time,  every 
day,  a  torch  was  placed,  to  light  the  prisoners  within,  for  half-an-hour. 
The  captives,  by  the  glimmering  of  these  brief  rays,  had  cut  and 
scratched  inscriptions  in  the  blackened  vaults.  I  saw  them.  For  their 
labour  with  the  rusty  nail's  point,  had  outlived  their  agony  and  them, 
through  many  generations. 

"  One  cell,  I  saw,  in  which  no  man  remained  for  more  than  four  and 
twenty  hours  ;  being  marked  for  dead  before  he  entered  it.  Hard  by, 
another,  and  a  dismal  one,  whereto,  at  midnight,  the  confessor  came — 
a  monk  brown-robed,  and  hooded — ghastly  in  the  day,  and  free  bright 
air,  but  in  the  midnight  of  that  murky  prison,  Hope's  extinguisher, 
and  Murder's  herald.     I  had  my  foot  upon  the  spot,  where,  at  the 


THE  GRIMANI  BREVIARY.  \t 

same  dread  hour,  the  shriven  prisoner  was  strangled  ;  and  struck  my 
hand  upon  the  guilty  door — low-bro'.ved  and  stealthy — through  which 
the  lumpish  sack  was  carried  out  into  a  boat  and  rowed  away,  and 
drowned  where  it  was  death  to  cast  a  net. 

"Around  this  dungeon  stronghold,  and  above  some  parts  of  it,  licking 
the  rough  walls  without,  and  smearing  them  with  damp  and  slime 
within  :  stuffing  dank  weeds  and  refuse  into  chinks  and  crevices,  as  if 
the  very  stones  and  bars  had  mouths  to  stop  :  furnishing  a  smooth  road 
for  the  removal  of  the  bodies  of  the  secret  victims  of  the  state— a  road 
so  ready  that  it  went  along  with  them,  and  ran  before  them,  like  a  cruel 
officer — flowed  the  water." — Dickens. 

Entered  by  the  same  staircase  we  have  ascended,  on  the 
second  floor,  is  the  Library  (open  from  9  to  4) — founded 
in  13 1 2  by  Petrarch,  who  bequeathed  all  his  collection  to 
Venice,  where  he  had  found  a  refuge  during  the  plague. 
A  very  small  portion,  however,  of  this  donation  reached  the 
destination  he  intended,  as  is  abundantly  proved  by  the 
number  of  his  MSS,  at  the  Vatican,  Laurentian,  Ambrosian, 
and  other  libraries.  The  person  who  really  was  the  greatest 
amongst  many  benefactors  (Grimani,  Contarini,  &c.)  was 
Bessarion. 

The  greatest  treasure  of  the  Library  is  the  famous  Gri- 
mani Breviary,  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  illuminated  work 
in  existence.  Its  miniatures  are  exquisite  works  of  Mem- 
ling,  Gerard  van  der  Meire,  Antonello  da  Messina,  Ales- 
sandro  Vittoria,  Ugo  d'Anversa,  and  Livien  de  Gand.  It  is 
only  shown  on  Wednesday  at  3  p.m. 

From  the  Ante-chamber  of  the  Library  we  enter  the  Sala 
del  Maggior  Consiglio,  an  immense  room  (i75|- feet  long, 
84^  broad,  51^  high)  originally  decorated  with  frescoes  by 
Guariento,  which  were  destroyed  by  fire  in  1577,  and  re- 
placed by  pictures  of  the  later  Venetian  school. 

"  The  greater  allegorical  pictures  of  the  Ducal  palace  remain.  Those 
of  Paul  Veronese  are  celebrated  as  compositions  of  the  highest  poetry. 


42  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Their  subjects  are  surely  poetical  ;  but  the  works  themselves  are  full  of 
such  heads  and  such  gestures  as  were  common  at  Venice,  of  such  satins 
and  velvets  as  were  peculiarly  studied  in  that  portrait  and  pageant- 
painting  school.  Tintoret's  Paradise  is  a  multitudinous  confusion  of 
hurried  figures,  which  none  but  that  furious  '  fulmine  di  pennello  '  could 
assemble.  Palma's  Last  Judgment  is  another  immense  composition,  but 
more  intelligibly  detailed.  These  artists  seem  fond  of  introducing  their 
friends  into  such  pictures.  In  one  part  of  this  work  you  see  Palma's 
mistress  in  heaven,  in  another  the  fickle  lover  sends  her  to  hell.  The 
paintings  of  the  great  council-chamber  form  a  continued  epic  on  the 
triumph  which  the  republic  pretends  to  claim  over  Frederic  Barbarossa. 
In  one  picture  the  suppliant  Pope  is  discovered  by  the  Doge ;  in  another, 
the  Venetians  defeat  the  imperial  galleys ;  in  a  third,  young  Otho,  their 
prisoner,  bears  to  his  father  the  demands  of  the  conqueror ;  in  a  fourth, 
the  emperor  is  prostrate  at  S.  Mark's.  Most  of  this,  I  believe,  is  a 
romance  ;  but  a  romance  more  pardonable  in  a  Venetian  painting, 
than  in  some  grave  histories  which  admit  it  without  any  warrant." — 
Forsyth. 

The  greatest  of  the  Venetian  masters  were  employed  upon 
the  decorations  of  the  ceiling. 

"  Of  the  three  large  ceiling  pictures,  those  of  Tinforetto  and  Palma 
Giovane  are  far  surpassed  by  that  of  Paul  Veronese :  Venice  crowned  by 
Fame.  First,  the  view  from  below,  and  the  architectural  perspective, 
are  far  more  carefully  treated  ;  also  Paolo  has  confined  the  allegorical 
and  historical  part  to  the  upper  group,  where  his  cloud-life  is  brought 
quite  harmoniously  into  connection  with  the  architecture  in  lines  and 
colour ;  on  the  lower  balustrade  one  sees  only  beautiful  women  ; 
farther  below,  riders  keeping  watch,  and  a  populace,  spectators  of  the 
heavenly  ceremony  ;  most  wisely,  two  great  pieces  of  sky  are  left  free, 
a  breathing  space  which  Tintoretto  never  allows  his  beholder;  and,  in 
fine,  Paolo  has  given  himself  up  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  own  cheerful 
sense  of  beauty,  the  leeling  of  which  inevitably  affects  the  beholder." — 
Burckhardt, 

The  whole  of  the  entrance  wall  is  occupied  by  one  vast 
subject : 

Tintoretto.     Paradise. 

"At  first  this  Paradise  of  Tintoret  is  so  strange  that  no  wonder  the 
lovely  world  outside,  the  beautiful  court-yard,  the  flying  birds,  and 
drifting  Venetians,  seem  more  like  heaven  to  those  who  are  basking  in 
their  sweetness.     But  it  is  well  worth  while,  by  degrees,  with  some 


THE  PARADISE  OF  TINTORET.  43 

pain  and  self-denial,  to  climb  in  spirit  to  that  strange  crowded  place 
towards  which  old  Tintoret's  mighty  soul  was  bent.  Is  it  the  heaven 
towards  which  his  great  heart  yearned?  He  has  painted  surprise  and 
rapture  in  the  face  of  a  soul  just  born  into  this  vast  circling  vortex:  with 
its  sudden  pools  and  gleams  of  peace.  Mary  Mother  above  is  turning 
to  her  Son,  with  outstretched  arms,  and  pointing  to  the  crowds  with 
tender  motherhood.  In  the  great  eventful  turmoil  a  man  sits  absorbed 
in  a  book,  reading  unmoved.  Angels,  with  noble  wings,  take  stately 
flights,  cross  and  re-cross  the  darkened  canvas.      A  far  away  procession 

passes  in  radiance " — Miss  Thackeray. 

'*  In  the  Paradise  of  Tintoret,  the  Angel  is  seen  in  the  distance 
driving  Adarn  and  Eve  out  of  the  Garden.  Not,  for  Tintoret,  the 
leading  to  the  gate  with  consolation  or  counsel  ;  his  strange  ardour  of 
conception  is  seen  here  as  everywhere.  Full  speed  they  fly,  the  angel 
and  the  human  creatures  ;  the  angel  wrapt  in  an  orb  of  light  floats  on, 
stooped  forward  in  his  fierce  flight,  and  does  not  touch  the  ground  ;  the 
chastised  creatures  rush  before  him  in  abandoned  terror.  All  this  might 
have  been  invented  by  another,  though  in  other  hands  it  would  assuredly 
have  been  offensive  ;  but  one  circumstance  which  completes  the  story 
could  have  been  thought  of  by  none  but  Tintoret.  The  angel  casts  a 
shadffio  before  him  towards  Adam  and  Eve." — Ruskin's  Modern 
Painters, 

The  walls  are  surmounted  by  a  noble  series  of  pictures 
illustrating  the  history  of  Venice,  and  though  greatly  black- 
ened and  often  injured  by  the  coarsest  re-painting,  they 
may  be  studied  with  profit.  They  are,  beginnhig  from  the 
left :— 

1.  Carlo  and  Gahriele  Cagliari.     Pope  Alexander  III.  taking  refuge 

from  Frederic  II.  1 177,  in  the  convent  of  La  Carita,  where  he 
was  found  by  Doge  Ziani. 

2.  Id.     The  Embassy  from  the  Pope  and  the  Republic  to  Frederic 

II.  at  Pavia. 

3.  (Above  the  window)  leandro  Bassano.     The  Doge  receiving  a 

lighted  taper  from  the  Pope. 

4.  yacopo  Tintoretto.  The  ambassadors  implore  Frederic  at  Pavia  to 

restore  peace  to  the  Church.  He  replies  that  unless  the  Vene- 
tians deliver  up  the  Pope  he  "will  plant  his  eagles  on  the  por- 
tals of  S.  Mark." 

5.  Francesco  Bassano.     The  Pope  presents  the  Doge  with  a  con- 

secrated sword. 


44  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

6.   (Above  the  window)  Fiammingo.  The  Doge  receives  the  parting 

benediction  of  the  Pope. 
7-  Dom.  Tintoretto.      The  legendary  battle  of  Salvore  in  which  the 

imperialists  are  said   to  have  been  totally  defeated   by  the 

Venetians,  and  Otho,  son  of  Frederic  II.,  to  have  been  taken 

prisoner. 

8.  (Over  a  door)  Andrea   Vicentino.     Otho  is  presented  by  Doge 

Ziani  to  the  Pope. 

9.  Palma  Giovane.     Otho  is  released  by  the  Pope. 

10.  F.  Zucchero.     The  Emperor  makes  his  submission  to  the  Pope. 

1 1 .  (Over  a  door)  Girola?no  Gainberato.     The  Doge  lands  at  Ancona 

with  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  after  the  peace. 

12.  Giulio  dal  Moi-o.     The  Pope  (Alexander  III.)  presents  conse- 

crated banners  to  Doge  Ziani  in  the  church  of  S.  J.  Lateran. 

To  continue  the  pictures  chronologically  we  must  now 
return  to  the  Paradise,  when  we  shall  find  on  the  right : 

13.  Le  Clerc.     The  Alliance  concluded  in  S.  Mark's,  1201,  between 

the  Venetians  and  the  Crusaders. 

14.  Andrea  Vicentino.  The  Siege  of  Zara  (1202),  under  Doge  Andrea 

Dandolo  and  the  Crusaders. 

15.  Domenico  T/'w/orf//;?,  (over  the  window).     The  surrender  of  Zara. 

16.  Andrea  Vicentino.     Alexius  Comnenus  implores  the  help  of  the 

Venetians  in  behalf  of  his  father  Isaac. 

17.  Palma  Giovane.     The  Venetians  and  French,  led  by  the  blind 

Doge  Dandolo,  take  Constantinople  in  1203. 

18.  Domenico  Tintoretto.     The  Crusaders  and  Venetians  take  Con- 

stantinople for  the  second  time  (when  the  bronze  horses  were 
carried  oflQ,  in  1204. 

19.  And.  Vicentino.     Baldwin  of  Flanders  elected  Emperor  of  the 

East  by  the  Crusaders  in  Santa  Sophia. 

20.  Aliense.      The   Coronation  of  Baldwin  of  Flanders  by  Enrico 

Dandolo. 

21.  Paul  Veronese.     The  return  of  Doge  Contarini  after  his  victojy 

over  the  Genoese  at  Chioggia. 

Above  these  pictures  are  the  portraits  of  72  Doges,  be- 
ginning from  A.D.  809.  The  space  which  should  have  the 
portrait  of  Marino  Faliero  is  covered  with  black,  and  has  the 


SAL  A  DE  SCRUTINIO.  45 

inscription  :  "  Hie  est  locus  Marini  Falethri  decapitati  pro 
criminibus." 

From  this  Hall  we  enter  the  Sala  de  Scruthiio,  occupying 
the  rest  of  the  fa9ade  towards  the  Piazzetta.  Here  the  41 
nobles  were  elected,  by  whom  the  Doge  was  afterwards 
chosen.  Opposite  the  entrance  is  a  representation  of  the 
Triumphal  Arch  erected  by  the  Senate  in  1694  to  Doge 
Francesco  Morosini,  suniamed  Peloponnesiaco,  after  his  con- 
quest of  the  Morea.  The  walls  are  covered  with  historical 
pictures.  On  the  entrance  wall  is  a  Last  Judgment,  by 
Palma  Giovane. 

Opposite  the  entrance  of  the  Library  is  that  of  the  Archao- 
logical  Museum.  A  passage,  lined  with  indifferent  sculpture, 
leads  to  the  Stanza  degli  Scarlatti,  once  the  bedroom  of  the 
Doge,  with  a  grand  chimney-piece  erected  for  Doge  Agostino 
Barbarigo  1480 — 1501.    The  best  piece  of  sculpture  here  is, 

102.   Cupid. 

The  Sala  dello  Scudo  is  the  room  where  the  shield  of  arms 
of  a  Doge  was  placed  on  his  election.  The  walls  are  hung 
with  maps  of  the  discoveries  made  by  Venetian  navigators. 
Here  is  the  map  of  the  world — Mappamondo — of  Fra  Mauro, 

1457—1459- 

The  Stanza  degli  Scudieri,  now  called  Sala  de'  Relievi, 
is  filled  with  poor  sculpture. 

The  Sala  d  Udienza  del  Doge  (which  also  opens  from  the 
Sala  dello  Scudo)  is  now  occupied  by  a  collection  of  ancient 
busts. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
VENICE. 

THE    GRAND    CANAL. 

HAVING  visited  the  group  of  buildings  around  S.  Mark's 
the  traveller  cannot  do  better  than  engage  a  gondolier 
at  the  Piazzetta  and  bid  him  row  leisurely  up  and  down  the 
Grand  Canal,  which  will  give  him  a  general  impression  of  the 
palaces,  to  be  more  minutely  studied  afterwards.  The 
buildings  also  of  the  Grand  Canal,  unlike  the  rest  of  Venice, 
can  in  most  cases  only  be  seen  from  the  water.  Those  who 
visit  its  palaces  on  foot  must  make  constant  use  of  the  tra- 
ghetti,  which,  shaded  by  their  little  pergolas,  "  send  out  the 
perfume  of  vine  flowers  along  the  canal."  Here  the  public 
gondolas  cross  as  ferry  boats,  and  here,  in  the  shade,  the 
most  picturesque  groups  may  usually  be  seen,  of  facchini 
gossiping  with  the  gondoliers,  or  market-women  from  Mestre 
waiting  with  their  baskets  overflowing  with  fruits  and  green- 
ery. Here  we  may  see  that  the  type  of  the  lagunes, 
especially  the  masculine  type,  is  now  that  which  Gozzi  de- 
scribes as  "  bianco,  biondo,  e  grassotto,"  rather  than  the  dark, 
bronzed,  and  grave  figures  of  Giorgione.  Gravity  certainly 
is  washed  out  of  the  Venetian  character,  and,  in  the  places 
where  dry  land  affords  a  meeting  ground,  nothing  can  exceed 
the  energy,  excitement,  and  vivacity  displayed — almost  like 


S.  MARIA  BELLA  SALUTE.  47 

that  of  Naples,  and  even  where  a  shrine  is  marked  by  its 
red  lamp  on  some  little  landing  place,  you  seldom  see  one 
silent  figure  kneeling,  but  two  or  three  votaries  pressing  for- 
ward to  the  Madonna  at  once,  as  if  they  had  a  secret  to 
confide  in  her.     It  is  an  ever-changing  diorama. 

"  You  will  see  Venice — glide  as  though  in  dreams 

Midmost  a  hollowed  opal :  for  her  sky, 
Mirrored  upon  the  ocean  pavement,  seems 

At  dawn  and  eve  to  build  in  vacancy 

A  wondrous  bubble-dome  of  wizardry, 
Suspended  where  the  light,  all  ways  alike 
Circumfluent,  upon  her  sphere  may  strike. 

"There  Titian,  Tintoret  and  Giambellin, 

And  that  strong  master  of  a  myriad  hues. 
The  Veronese,  like  flowers  with  odours  keen. 

Shall  smite  your  brain  with  splendours  :  they  confuse 
The  soul  that  wandering  in  their  world  must  lose 
Count  of  our  littleness,  and  cry  that  then 
The  gods  we  dream  of  walked  the  earth  like  men. " 

y.  A.  Symonds. 

As  S.  Maria  Salute  is  the  most  prominent  object,  we  will 
begin  by  noting  the  principal  objects  on  the  left,  marking 
those  on  the  right  as  we  return. 

Passing  the  Dogana  of  1676,  we  may  land  at  the  grand 
marble  steps  of  the  Church  of  Santa  Maria  della  Salute. 

"  Santa  Maria  della  Salute  was  built  by  Baldassare  Longhena  in  1632, 
according  to  a  decree  of  the  Senate,  as  a  votive  offering  to  the  Virgin 
for  having  stayed  the  plague  which  devastated  the  city  in  1630.  Con- 
sidering the  age  in  which  it  was  erected,  it  is  singularly  pure,  and  it  is 
well  adapted  to  its  site,  showing  its  principal  fa9ade  to  the  Grand  Canal, 
while  its  two  domes  and  two  bell-towers  group  most  pleasingly  in  every 
point  of  view  from  which  Venice  can  be  entered  on  that  side .  Extern- 
ally it  is  open  to  the  criticism  of  being  rather  too  overloaded  with 
decoration  ;  but  there  is  very  little  of  even  this  that  is  unmeaning,  or 
put  there  merely  for  the  sake  of  ornament.     Internally  the  great  dome 


48  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

is  only  65  ft.  in  diameter,  but  it  is  surrounded  by  an  aisle,  or  rather  by 
eight  side-chapels  opening  into  it  through  the  eight  great  pier  arches ; 
making  the  whole  floor  of  this,  which  is  practically  the  nave  of  the 
church,  107  ft.  in  diameter." — Fergusson. 

The  pillars  of  this  church  were  brought  from  the  amphi- 
theatre of  Pola.  Before  the  high-altar  is  a  grand  bronze 
candelabrum  by  Andrea  Bresciano.  The  ceiling  of  the  choir 
is  by  Titian;  a  picture  of  Venice  imploring  deliverance  from 
pestilence,  by  Fiammingo. 

The  Ante-Sacristy  contains,  amongst  other  pictures, 

*  Titian.  S.  Mark,  a  most  grand  figure,  with  the  shadow  of  a  cloud 
thrown  across  him.  On  the  left  are  SS.  Cosmo  and  Damian  ; 
on  the  right,  S.  Roch,  and  S.  Sebastian  with  an  arrow  lying  at 
his  feet. 

*Marco  Basaiti.     S.  Sebastian,  a  grand  figure,  in  a  beautiful  land- 
scape of  Umbrian  scenery. 
Opposite,  these  is  a  Pieta,  a  relief  of  the  15th  century,  by  Antonio 
Dentone. 

The  Sacristy  contains  : 

Entrance  Wall.     Girolaino  da  Treviso.     S.  Roch  with  SS.  Sebastian 

and  Jerome. 
Sassoferrato.     Two  beautiful  Madonnas. 
Salviati.     The  Last  Sujiper,  and  Saul  and  David. 
Right.     Tintorct.     Marriage  of  Cana. 

"  An  immense  picture,  some  twenty-five  feet  long  by  fifteen  high,  and 
said  by  Lazari  to  be  one  of  the  few  which  Tintoret  signed  with  his  name. 
I  am  not  surprised  at  his  having  done  so  in  this  case.  Evidently  the 
work  has  been  a  favourite  with  him,  and  he  has  taken  as  much  pains  as 
it  was  even  necessary  for  his  colossal  strength  to  take  with  anything. 
The  subject  is  not  one  which  admits  of  much  singularity  or  energy  in 
composition.  It  has  always  been  a  favourite  one  with  Veronese,  be- 
cause it  gave  dramatic  interest  to  figures  in  gay  costumes  and  of  cheerful 
countenances  ;  but  one  is  surprised  to  find  Tintoret,  whose  tone  of  mind 
was  always  grave,  and  who  did  not  like  to  make  a  picture  out  of  bro- 
cades and  diadems,  throwing  his  whole  strength  into  the  conception  of 
a  marriage  feast ;  but  so  it  is,  and  there  are  assuredly  no  female  heads 
in  any  of  his  pictures  in  Venice  elaborated  so  far  as  those  which  here 


S.  MARIA  DELLA  SALUTE.  49 

form  the  central  light.  Neither  is  it  often  that  the  works  of  this  mighty 
master  conform  themselves  to  any  of  the  rules  acted  upon  by  ordinary 
painters  ;  but  in  this  instance  the  popular  laws  have  been  observed,  and 
an  academy  student  would  be  delighted  to  see  with  what  severity  the 
principal  light  is  arranged  in  a  central  mass,  which  is  divided  and  made 
more  brilliant  by  a  vigorous  piece  of  shadow  thrust  into  the  midst  of  it, 
and  which  dies  away  in  lesser  fragments  and  sparkling  towards  the  ex- 
tremities of  the  picture.  This  mass  of  light  is  as  interesting  by  its  com- 
position as  by  its  intensity.  The  cicerone  who  escorts  the  stranger 
round  the  sacristy  in  the  course  of  five  minutes,  which  allows  him  some 
forty  seconds  for  the  contemplation  of  a  picture  which  the  study  of  six 
months  would  not  entirely  fathom,  directs  his  attention  very  carefully  to 
the  'beir  effetto  di  prospettivo, '  the  whole  merit  of  the  picture  being,  in 
the  eyes  of  the  intelligent  public,  that  there  is  a  long  table  in  it,  one  end 
of  which  looks  farther  off  than  the  other ;  but  there  is  more  in  the  '  bell' 
effetto  di  prospettivo '  than  the  observance  of  the  common  law  of  optics. 
The  table  is  set  in  a  spacious  chamber,  of  which  the  windows  at  the  end 
let  in  the  light  from  the  horizon,  and  those  in  the  side  wall  the  intense 
blue  of  an  eastern  sky.  The  spectator  looks  all  along  the  table,  at  the 
farther  end  of  which  are  seated  Christ  and  the  Madonna,  the  marriage 
guests  on  each  side  of  it, — on  one  side  men,  on  the  other  women  ;  the 
men  are  set  with  their  backs  to  the  light,  which,  passing  over  their 
heads  and  glancing  slightly  on  the  table-cloth,  falls  in  full  length  along 
the  line  of  young  Venetian  women,  who  thus  fill  the  whole  centre  of  the 
picture  with  one  broad  sunbeam,  made  up  of  fair  faces  and  golden  hair.* 
Close  to  the  spectator  a  woman  has  risen  in  amazement,  and  stretches 
across  the  table  to  show  the  wine  in  her  cup  to  those  opposite  ;  her  dark 
red  dress  intercepts  and  enhances  the  mass  of  gathered  light.  It  is  rather 
curious,  considering  the  subject  of  the  picture,  that  one  cannot  dis- 
tinguish either  the  bride  or  bridegroom  ;  but  the  fouith  figure  from  the 
Madonna  in  the  line  of  women,  who  wears  a  white  head-dress  of  lace 
and  rich  chains  of  pearls  in  her  hair,  may  well  be  accepted  for  the 
former,  and  I  think  that  between  her  and  the  woman  on  the  Madonna's 
left  hand  the  unity  of  the  line  of  women  is  intercepted  by  a  male  figure. 
The  tone  of  the  whole  picture  is  sober  and  majestic  in  the  highest 
degree  ;  the  dresses  are  all  broad  masses  of  colour,  and  the  only  parts 
of  the  picture  which  lay  claim  to  the  expression  of  wealth  or  splendour 
are  the  head-dresses  of  the  women.  In  this  respect  the  conception  of 
the  scene  differs  widely  from  that  of  Veronese,  and  approaches  more 

•  To  give  the  golden  tint  thanded  down  in  Venetian  pictures)  to  their  hair,  the  city 
beauties  used  to  steep  their  hair  in  a  special  preparation  and  then  dry  it  in  the  sun. 
For  this  purpose  they  sat  for  hours  in  their  balconies,  with  broad-brimmed  hats, 
without  crowns,  shading  their  complexions,  and  their  hair  falling  over  them. 
VOL.    II.  4 


50  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

nearly  to  the  probable  truth.  Still  the  marriage  is  not  an  unimportant 
one ;  an  immense  crowd,  filling  the  background,  forming  superbly  rich 
mosaic  of  colour  against  the  distant  sky.  Taken  as  a  whole,  the  picture 
is  perhaps  the  most  perfect  example  which  human  art  has  produced  of 
the  utmost  possible  force  and  sharpness  of  shadow  united  with  richness 
of  local  colour.  This  picture  unites  colour  as  rich  as  Titian's  with  light 
and  shade  as  forcible  as  Rembrandt's,  and  far  more  decisive. " — RusMn, 
Stones  of  Venice,  iii. 

Palma  Giovane.     Samson  and  Jonas. 

The  altar  piece  of  the  Virgin  and  Child  is  by  Padovanino. 

The  Little  Sacristy  contains  the  tomb  of  Antonio  Correr, 
and  above  it  a  14th-century  relief  of  the  Coronation  of  the 
Virgin. 

The  Cloister  should  not  be  left  unvisited. 

"  It  might  have  been  thought  that  the  ashes  of  the  great  Doge  Fran- 
cesco Dandolo  were  honourable  enough  to  have  been  permitted  to  rest 
undisturbed  in  the  chapter-house  of  the  Frari,  where  they  were  first  laid. 
But,  as  if  there  was  not  room  enough,  nor  waste  houses  enough  in  the 
whole  desolate  city,  to  receive  a  few  convent  papers,  the  monks,  want- 
ing an  'archivio,'  have  separated  the  tomb  into  three  pieces;  the 
canopy,  a  simple  arch  sustained  on  brackets,  still  remains  on  the  blank 
walls  of  the  desecrated  chamber  ;  the  sarcophagus  has  been  transported 
to  a  kind  of  museum  of  antiquities,  established  in  what  was  once  the 
cloister  of  Santa  Maria  della  Salute  ;  and  the  painting  which  filled  the 
lunette  behind  it  is  hung  far  out  of  sight,  at  one  end  of  the  sacristy  of 
the  same  church.  The  sarcophagus  is  completely  charged  with  bas- 
reliefs  ;  at  its  two  extremities  are  the  types  of  S.  Mark  and  S.  John ;  in 
front,  a  noble  sculpture  of  the  death  of  the  Virgin  ;  at  the  angles,  angels 
holding  vases.  The  whole  space  is  occupied  by  the  sculpture  ;  there 
are  no  spiral  shafts  or  pannelled  divisions  ;  only  a  basic  plinth  below, 
and  crowning  plinth  above,  the  sculpture  being  raised  from  a  deep 
concave  field  between  the  two,  but,  in  order  to  give  piquancy  and 
picturesqueness  to  the  mass  of  figures,  two  small  trees  are  introduced  at 
the  head  and  foot  of  the  Madonna's  couch,  an  oak  and  a  stone  pine." — 
Rtiskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  iii. 

Close  to  S.  Maria,  on  the  right,  is  the  rich  Gothic  Church 
of  S.  Gregorio,  now  a  wine  magazine. 

Beyond  S.  Maria,  as  the  canal  opens,  we  see  a  vista  of 
palaces. 


PALAZZO  DA  mo,   CONVENT  OF  LA  CARITA.         51 

"  The  charm  which  Venice  still  possesses,  and  which  for  the  last  fifty 
years  has  made  it  the  favourite  haunt  of  all  the  painters  of  picturesque 
subjects,  is  owing  to  the  effect  of  the  Gothic  palaces,  mingled  with  those 
of  the  Renaissance. 

"The  effect  is  produced  in  two  different  ways.  The  Renaissance 
palaces  are  not  more  picturesque  in  themselves  than  the  club-houses  of 
Pall  Mall  ;  but  they  become  delightful  by  the  contrast  of  their  severity 
and  refinement  with  the  rich  and  rude  confusion  of  the  sea-life  beneath 
them,  and  of  their  white  and  solid  masonry  with  the  green  waves.  Re- 
move from  beneath  them  the  orange  sails  of  the  fishing-boats,  the  black 
gliding  of  the  gondolas,  the  cumbered  decks  and  rough  crews  of  the 
barges  of  traffic,  and  the  fretfulness  of  the  green  water  along  their  founda- 
tions, and  the  Renaissance  palaces  possess  no  more  interest  than  those  of 
London  or  Paris.  But  the  Gothic  palaces  are  picturesque  in  themselves, 
and  wield  over  us  an  independent  power.  Sea  and  sky,  and  every  other 
accessory  might  be  taken  away  from  them,  and  still  they  would  be 
beautiful  and  strange." — Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  ii.  ch.  vii. 

'  While  other  Italian  cities  have  each  some  ten  or  twelve  prominent 
structures  on  which  their  claim  to  architectural  fame  is  based,  Venice 
numbers  her  specimens  by  hundreds  ;  and  the  residence  of  the  simple 
citizen  is  often  as  artistic  as  the  palace  of  the  proudest  noble.  No  other 
city  possesses  such  a  school  of  Architectural  Art  as  applied  to  domestic 
purposes  ;  and  if  we  must  look  for  types  from  which  to  originate  a  style 
suitable  to  our  modem  wants,  it  is  among  the  Venetian  examples  of  the 
early  part  of  the  1 6th  century  that  we  shall  probably  find  what  is  best 
suited  to  our  purposes." — Fergusson. 

Passing  the  beautiful  Lombard  front  of  the  Palazzo  Dario, 
of  1450,  inlaid  with  circular  disks  of  precious  coloured 
marbles,  we  reach  the  mosaic  manufactory  of  Salviati,  then 
the  Lombard  Palazzo  Manzoni  of  c.  1465.  Here,  passing 
under  the  iron  bridge,  we  arrive  at  the  steps  of  the  ancient 
convent  of  La  Carita,  where  Alexander  III.  took  refuge. 
The  conventual  buildings  are  now  occupied  by — 

The  Academy,  (open  daily,  free ;  on  week  days  from 
II  to  3  ;  on  Sundays,  from  11  to  2).* 

•  The  Academy  may  be  reached  on  foot  in  lo  minutes  from  the  Piazza  S.  Marco, 
by  S.  Moise,  S.  Maria  Zobenigo,  and  the  Campo  S.  Stefano,  on  the  left  of  which  is 
the  entrance  to  the  bridge, — toll  2  centimes.  The  bridge  itself  is  almost  the  only 
modem  thing  in  Venice  and  utterly  disgraceful  to  it. 


52  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  gallery  is  reached  by  a  corridor  lined  with  marble. 
A  passage  leads  to  the — 

1st  Hall.  Sala  degli  Antichi  Dipinti.  In  this  and  in 
the  other  rooms  only  the  most  remarkable  paintings  are 
noticed  ;  those  of  the  greatest  importance  are  indicated  by 
an  asterisk. 

1.  BartolomeoVrvaHni,  \\(>^     Madonna  and  four  saints.     One  of  the 

earliest  works  of  the  artist,  painted  on  a  gold  ground. 

2.  Michele  Mattei  (or  Lambertini),  Bolognese.     The  Virgin  and  saints. 

Above,  the  Crucifixion.     Below,  the  Story  of  S.  Helena. 
4.  Marco  Basaiti.     S.  James. 
•5.  Lorenzo    Veneziano  and  Bissolo  Francesco.     The   Annunciation, 
with  saints. 
8.   Giovanni  and  Antonio  da  Murano,  1440.     The  Coronation  of  the 
Virgin. 
23.    Giovanni  d'Alemagna  and  Antonio  da  Murano,  1496.     The  Ma- 
donna enthroned,  with  the  Doctors  of  the  Church. 

The  2nd  Hall,  Sala  deW  Assunta,  has  a  ceiling  by 
Chernbino  Ottali,  with  a  painting  by  P.  Veronese  in  the 
centre  :  it  contains  : 

♦24.    Titian.     The  Assumption.     Tlie  most  important  picture  of  the 

master,  brought  from  the  Church  of  the  Frari. 

"The  Madonna  is  a  powerful  figure,  borne  rapidly  upwards  as  if 

divinely  impelled.     Head,  figure,  attitude,  drapery,  and  colour  are  all 

beautiful.     Fascinating  groups  of  infant  angels  surround  her,  beneath 

stand  the  Apostles,  looking  up  with  solemn  gestures." — Kugler. 

25.  Jacopo  Tintoretto.     Adam  and  Eve.     A  splendid  example  of  the 

master. 
27.  Bonifazio  Veneziano.     S.  Mark. 

31.  Marco  Basaiti,  15 10.     The  calling  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee. 

"In  this  picture  the  naive  simplicity  of  the  attitudes,  the  expression 
of  humility  in  the  countenances  of  the  two  brothers,  and  their  strictly 
apostolical  character,  cannot  fail  to  excite  our  admiration." — Rio. 

32.  Jacopo  Tintoretto.     The  Virgin  and  Child,  with  three  senators. 

33.  Titian.     The  Burial  of  Christ,  completed  by  Palma  Vecchio. 
"Les  Beaux- Arts  renferment  le  dernier  tableau  de  Titien,  tresor  in- 
estimable !     Les  annees,  si  pesantes  pour  tous,  glisserent  sans  appuyer 


THE  ACCADEMIA.  53 

sur  ce  patriarche  de  la  peinture,  qui  traversa  tout  un  siecle  et  que  la 
peste  surprit  a  quatre-vingt-dix-neuf  ans  travaillant  encore. 

"Ce  tableau,  grave  et  melancholique  d'aspect,  dont  le  sujet  funebre 
semble  un  pressentiment,  represente  un  Christ  depose  de  la  Croix  ;  le 
ciel  est  sombre,  un  jour  livide  eclaire  le  cadavre  pieusement  soutenu  par 
Joseph  d'Arimathie  et  sainte  Marie-Madeleine.  Tous  deux  sont  tristes, 
sombres,  et  paraissent,  a  leur  morne  attitude,  desesperer  de  la  resur- 
rection de  leur  maitre.  On  voit  qu'ils  se  demandent  avec  une  anxiete 
secrete  si  ce  corps,  oint  de  baumes,  qu'ils  vont  confier  au  sepulchre,  en 
pourra  jamais  sortir ;  en  effet,  jamais  Titien  n'a  fait  de  cadavre  si  mort. 
Sous  cette  peau  verte  et  dans  ces  veines  bleuatres  il  n'y  a  plus  une 
goutte  de  sang,  la  pourpre  de  la  vie  s'en  est  retiree  pour  toujours.  Pour 
la  premiere  fois,  le  grand  Venetien  a  ete  abandonne  par  son  antique  et 
inalterable  serenite.  L'ombre  de  la  mort  prochaine  semble  lutter  avec 
la  lumiere  du  peintre  qui  eut  toujours  le  soleil  sur  sa  palette,  et  enve- 
loppe  le  tableau  d'un  froid  crepuscule.  La  main  de  I'artiste  se  gla9a 
avant  d'avoir  acheve  sa  tache,  comme  le  temoigne  I'inscription  en  lettres 
noires  tracee  dans  le  coin  de  la  toile  :  Quod  Tizianus  inchoatum  reliquit 
Palma  reverenter  absolvit  Deoque  dicavit  opus.  '  L'ceuvre  que  Titien 
laissa  inachevee,  Palma  I'acheva  respectueusement  et  I'offrit  a  Dieu.' 
Cette  noble,  touchante,  et  religieuse  inscription  fait  de  ce  tableau  un 
monument.  Certes,  Palma,  grand  peintre  lui-meme,  ne  dut  approcher 
qu'avec  tremblement  de  I'oeuvre  du  maitre,  et  son  pinceau,  quelque 
habile  qu'il  fut,  hesita  et  vacilla  sans  doute  plus  d'une  fois  en  se  posant 
sur  les  touches  du  Titien. " —  Theophile  Gautier. 

35.  Titian.     The  Visitation. 

36.  Jacopo  Tintoretto.     The  Resurrection,  and  three  Senators. 
•37.    Giorgione.     The  famous  legend  of  S.  Mark  and  the  Fisherman. 

"  On  the  25th  of  February,  1340,  there  fell  out  a  wonderful  thing  in 
this  land  ;  for  during  three  days  the  waters  rose  continually,  and  in  the 
night  there  was  fearful  rain  and  tempest,  such  as  had  never  been  heard 
of.  So  great  was  the  storm  that  the  waters  rose  three  cubits  higher 
than  had  ever  been  known  in  Venice  ;  and  an  old  fisherman  being  in 
his  little  boat  in  the  canal  of  St.  Mark,  reached  with  difficulty  the  Riva 
di  San  Marco,  and  there  he  fastened  his  boat,  and  waited  the  ceasing 
of  the  storm.  And  it  is  related  that,  at  the  time  this  storm  was  at  the 
highest,  there  came  an  unknown  man,  and  besought  him  that  he  would 
row  him  over  to  San  Giorgio  Maggiore,  promising  to  pay  him  well ; 
and  the  fisherman  replied,  '  How  is  it  possible  to  go  to  San  Giorgio  ? 
we  shall  sink  by  the  way  ! '  but  the  man  only  besought  him  the  more 
that  he  should  set  forth.     So,  seeing  that  it  was  the  will  of  God,  he 


54  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

arose  and  rowed  over  to  San  Giorgio  Maggiore;  and  the  man  landed 
there,   and  desired    the  boatman  to   wait.      In  a   short  time    he   re- 
turned with  a  young  man  ;  and  they  said,  '  Now  row  towards  San  Niccol^ 
di  Lido. '     And  the  fisherman  said,    '  How  can  one  possibly  go  so  far 
with  one  oar  ? '  and  they  said,   *  Row  boldly,  for  it  shall  be  possible 
with  thee,  and  thou  shalt  be  well  paid.'     And  he  went ;  and  it  appear- 
ed to  him  as  if  the  waters  were  smooth.     Being  arrived  at  San  Niccol6 
di  Lido,  the  two  men  landed,  and  returned  with  a  third,  and  having 
entered  into  the  boat,  they  commanded  the  fisherman  that  he  should 
row  beyond  the  two  castles.  And  the  tempest  raged  continually.    Being 
come  to  the  open  sea,  they  beheld  approaching,  with  such  terrific  speed 
that  it  appeared  to  fly  over  the  waters,   an  enormous  galley  full  of 
demons  (as  it  is  written  in  the  Chronicles,  and  Marco  Sabellino  also 
makes  mention  of  this  miracle) :  the  said  bark  approached  the  castles 
to  overwhelm  Venice,  and  to  destroy  it  utterly ;  anon  the  sea,  which 
had  hitherto  been  tumultuous,   became  calm  ;   and  these  three  men, 
having  made  the  sign  of  the  cross,  exorcised  the  demons,  and  com- 
manded them  to  depart,  and  immediately  the  galley  or  the  ship  vanish- 
ed.    Then  these  three  men  commanded  the  fisherman  to  land  them, 
the  one  at  San  Niccolo  di  Lido,  the  other  at  San  Giorgio  Maggiore, 
and  the  third  at  San  Marco.     And  when  he  had  landed  the  third,  the 
fisherman,  notwithstanding  the  miracle  he  had  witnessed,  desired  that  he 
■would  pay  him,  and  he  replied,  '  Thou  art  right ;  go  now  to  the  Doge  and 
to  the  Procuratore  of  St.  Mark,  and  tell  them  what  thou  hast  seen,  for 
Venice  would  have  been  overwhelmed  had  it  not  been  for  us  three.  I  am 
St.  Mark  the  evangelist,  the  protector  of  this  city ;  the  other  is  the  brave 
knight  St.  George,  and  he  whom  thou  didst  take  up  at  the  Lido  is  the 
holy  bishop   St.  Nicholas.     Say  to  the  Doge  and  to  the  Procuratore 
that  they  are  to  pay  you,  and  tell  them  likewise  that  this  tempest  arose 
because  of  a  certain  schoolmaster  dwelling  at  San  Felice,  who  did  sell 
his  soul  to  the  devil,  and  afterwards  hanged  himself.'     And  the  fisher- 
man replied,  '  If  I  should  tell  them  this,  they  would  not  believe  me  ! ' 
Then  St.  Mark  took  off  a  ring  which  was  worth  five  ducats ;  and  he 
said,    *  Show  them  this,  and  tell  them  when  they  look  in  the  sanc- 
-tuary  they  will  not  find  it,'  and  thereupon  he  disappeared.     The  next 
morning,  the  said  fisherman  presented  himself  before  the  Doge,  and 
related  all  he  had  seen  the  night  before,  and  shewed  him  the  ring  for  a 
sign.     And  the  Procuratore  having  sent  for  the  ring,  and  sought  it  in 
the  usual  place,  found  it  not ;  by  reason  of  which  miracle  the  fisherman 
was  paid,  and  a  solemn  procession  was  ordained,  giving  thanks  to  God, 
and  to  the  relics  of  the  three  holy  saints  who  rest  in  our  land,  and  who 
delivered  us  from  this  great  danger.     The  ring  was  given  to  Signor 


THE  ACCADEMIA.  SS 

Marco  Loredano  and  to  Signer  Andrea  Dandolo  the  procuratore,  who 
placed  it  in  the  sanctuary  ;  and,  moreover,  a  perpetual  provision  was 
made  for  the  aged  fisherman  above  mentioned." — Jamesoti  s  Sacred  Art. 

*38.   Giovanni  Bellini.     The  Virgin  and  six  saints.     A  most  beautiful 

picture. 
*45*  JcLcopo   Tintoretto.     S.  Mark  delivering  a  slave  condemned  to 

death. 

' '  Ce  tableau  a  pour  sujet  le  saint  patron  de  Venise  venant  ^  I'aide  d'un 
pauvre  esclave  qu'un  maitre  barbare  faisait  tourmenter  et  gehenner  a 
cause  de  I'obstinee  devotion  que  ce  pauvre  diable  avait  a  ce  saint.  L' es- 
clave est  etendu  a  terre  sur  une  croix  entour^e  de  bourreaux  affaires,  qui 
font  de  vains  efforts  pour  I'attacher  au  bois  infame.  Les  clous  rebrous- 
sent,  les  maillets  se  rompent,  les  haches  volent  en  eclats  ;  plus  miseri- 
cordieux  que  les  hommes,  les  instruments  de  supplice  s'emoussent  aux 
mains  des  tortionnaires  :  les  curieux  se  regardent  et  chuchotent  etonnes, 
le  juge  se  penche  du  haut  du  tribunal  pour  voir  pourquoi  Ton  n' execute 
pas  ses  ordres,  tandis  que  S.  Marc,  dans  un  des  raccourcis  les  plus 
violemment  strapasses  que  la  peinture  ait  jamais  risques,  pique  une  tete 
du  ciel  et  fait  un  plongeon  sur  la  terre,  sans  nuages,  sans  ailes,  sans 
cherubims,  sans  aucun  des  moyens  aerostatiques  employes  ordinairement 
dans  les  tableaux  de  saintete,  et  vient  delivrer  celui  qui  a  eu  foi  en  lui. 
Cette  figure  vigoureuse,  athletiquement  muselee,  de  proportion  colossale, 
fendant  I'air  comme  le  rocher  lance  par  une  catapulte,  produit  I'effet  le 
plus  singulier.  Le  dessin  a  une  telle  puissance  de  jet,  que  le  saint 
massif  se  soutient  a  I'oeil  et  ne  tombe  pas ;  c'est  un  vrai  tour  de  force." 
—  T.  Gautier. 

47.  Alessandro  Varotari  (H  Padovanino).     The  Wedding  at  Cana. 

50.  Bonifazio.     The  Woman  taken  in  Adultery. 

51.  ^   Tintoretto.     Portrait  of  Doge  Alvise  Mocenigo. 

54.  Paul    Veronese.     The  Madonna  in  glory,  with  S.  Dominic  be- 
neath distributing  garlands  of  roses. 
*55.  Bonifazia.     The  Judgment  of  Solomon — who  is  represented  as 

very  young  and  beautiful. 
*57.  Bonifazio.     The  Adoration  of  the  Magi. 
63.  J.  Tintoretto.    The  Death  of  Abel. 

The  ■^rd  Hall,  with  a  ceiling  painted  by  Tintoretto,  con- 
tains : — 

65.  J.  Tintoretto.     Portrait  of  Pietro  Marcello. 


56  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

66.   Giuseppe  Porta  [Salviatt) .     The  Baptism  of  Christ. 
71.  Giovanni  Bellini.     Madonna  and  Child. 

•(Unnumbered).   Cima  da  Conegliano.     The  Angel  and  Tobias. 
*{Id.).   Giovanni  Bellini.     The  Supper  at  Emmaus. 
*74.   Cima  da   Conegliano.     S.  John  Baptist  with  SS.  Peter,   Mark, 
Jerome,  and  Paul. 

The  4fh  Hall  (open  Tuesdays  and  Saturdays  from  1 2  to 
3)  contains  original  sketches  by  the  great  masters. 

The  ^th  Z^// contains  a  collection  presented  in  1843  ^^ 
Count  Girolamo  Coutarini.     It  includes  : — 

Left  Wall— 

84.  Palma  Vecchio.     Christ  and  the  widow  of  Nain. 
•94.  Giovanni  Bellini.     Madonna  and  Child.     A  most  exquisitely 

beautiful  picture. 
96.  Marco  Marziale.     The  Supper  at  Emmaus. 
no.  Fordenone.     Madonna  and  Child,  with  SS.   Catherine  and  J. 

Baptist. 
117.  Francesco  Bissolo,     The  Dead  Christ,  carried  by  angels. 

End  Wall.— 

124.    Vituenzo  Catena.    The  Virgin  and  Child,  with  SS.  John  Baptist 
and  Jerome. 
*I25.   Cima  da  Conegliano.     Virgin  and  Child,  with  SS.  John  and 
Paul. 

132.  Bocaccino  da  Cremona.     The  Virgin  and  Child,  with  SS.  Peter, 

John  Baptist,  Catherine,  and  Barbara. 

133.  Folidoro  Veneziano.     Virgin  and  Child,  with  S.  J.  Baptist  and 

an  angel. 

Jitgki  Wall.— 

138.  Morone.     Female  Portrait. 

151.  ^    Callot.       "The   Market  of  Impruneta "    (still    held    near 

Florence),  a  curious  picture,  with  innumerable  figures. 
155.  Schiavone.     The  Circumcision. 

Entrance  Wall. — 

168.  Tintoretto.     A  Portrait. 

186.  Francesco  Bissolo.     Madonna  and  Child. 


THE  ACCADEMIA.  57 

In  the  dth  Hall  we  may  notice  : — 
234 — 238.   Giovanni  Bellini.     Miniature  allegorical  pictures. 

The  ^th  Hall  contains  curious  old  furniture. 
In  the  ?>th  Hall  we  may  observe  : — 

254.  Lorenzo  di  Credi.     Holy  Family  and  S.  John. 
263.  Canaletto.     A  good  specimen  of  a  bad  master. 
268.  Holbein.     A  portrait. 
273.  Andrea  Mantegna.     S.  George. 

In  the  ^th  Hall  are  : — 

295.  y.  Tintoretto.     Portrait  of  Antonio  Capello. 

310.  M.  A.  Caravaggio.     A  Portrait. 

313.   Giovanni  Bellini.     Madonna  and  Child. 

315.  Engelbrechten.     The  Crucifixion. 

318.   G.  Schiavone.     Madonna  and  Child. 
*3I9.    Titian.     Jacopo  Lorenzo.     A  magnificent  portrait. 
•326.  Bonifazio.      Madonna   and   saints — with    glowing  colour   and 
beautiful  background. 

337.  Francesco  Bissolo.     Madonna  and  Child,  with  saints. 

348.  Bernardo  Darentino.     The  Nativity. 

349.  Antonello  da  Messina.     The  Madonna. 

350.  Titian.     Portrait  of  Priamo  da  Lezze. 
352.    Tomaso  da  Modena.     S.  Catherine. 

The  \oth  Hall  contains  : — 

365.  A.  Schiavone.    The  Virgin  and  Child,  with  SS.  John,  Catherine, 

Jerome,  and  James. 
•368.  Bonifazio.     Adoration  of  the  Magi. 
372.  Giovanni  Bellini.     The  Virgin  and  sleeping  Child. 

In  the  wth  Hall  are  : — 

385.  Vincemo  Catena.     The  Virgin  and  Child,  with  SS.  Francis  and 

Jerome. 

386.  Polidoro  Veneziano.     Virgin  and  Child,  with  two  saints  and  the 

donor. 
388.  Giovanni  da  Udine.     Christ  amongst  the  Doctors. 

"  Christ  is  represented  seated  on  a  throne,  and  disputing  with  the 
Jewish  doctors,  who  are  eagerly  arguing  or  searching  their  books.     In 


58  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

front  of  the  composition  stand  St.  Jerome,  St.  Ambrose,  St.  Augustine, 
and  St.  Gregory,  who,  with  looks  fixed  on  the  youthful  Saviour,  appear 
to  be  reverentially  listening  to,  and  recording,  his  words.  This  is  a 
wholly  poetical  and  ideal  treatment  of  a  familiar  passage  in  the  life  of 
Christ." — Jameson's  Sacred  Art. 

The  \ith  Hall  contains  a  collection  bequeathed  by 
Countess  Renier  in  1850.     It  includes  : — 

421.  Cima  da  Conegliano.     Virgin  and  Child. 

423.  Marco  Bello.     Virgin  and  Child  with  S.  John. 

•424.  Giovanni  Bellini.     The  Virgin  with  SS.  Paul  and  George. 

429.  Cima  da  Conegliano.     Pieta. 

433.  Morone.     A  Portrait. 

435.  Francesco  Bissolo.     The  Presentation  in  the  Temple. 

436.  Giov.  Bellini.     Virgin  and  Child  with  SS.  Mary  Magdalen  and 

Catherine. 

The  14//^  Hall  contains  : — 

441.  y.  Tintoretto.     Portrait  of  Marco  Grimani. 

447.  Sebastiano  Lazzaro.     A  saint  seated  in  a  tree  with  a  book,  and 

two  other  saints  beneath— very  curious- 
456.    Cima  da   Conegliano.      The  Saviour  with    SS.   Thomas  and 

Magnus. 

In  the  i^th  Hall  (which  contains  the  original  model  for 
the  Hercules  and  Lycas  of  Canova,  and  which  has  a  ceiling 
by  Tiepolo)  are  : — 

486.  Pordenone.     Our  Lady  of  Carmel  and  Saints. 
*487.    Titian.     The  Presentation  of  the  Virgin.     This  beautiful  picture 
is  one  of  the  earliest  works  of  the  master,  and  is  said  to  have 
been  executed  in  his  15  th  year.     The  old  woman  with  the 
^gs  is  one  of  his  most  powerful  representations. 

"  Au  sommet  d'un  enorme  escalier  grisatre  se  tiennent  les  pretres  et 
le  grand  pontife.  Cependant,  au  milieu  des  gradins,  la  petite  fiUette, 
bleue  dans  une  aureole  blonde,  monte  en  relevant  sa  robe  ;  elle  n'a  rien 
de  sublime,  elle  est  prise  sur  le  vif,  ses  bonnes  petites  joues  sont  rondes  ; 
elle  leve  sa  main  vers  le  grand  pretre,  comme  pour  prendre  garde  et  lui 
demander  ce  qu'il  veut  d'elle  ;  c'est  vraiment  une  enfant,  elle  n'a  point 
encore  de  pensee ;  Titien  en  trouvait  de  pareilles  au  catechisme.     Au 


THE  ACCADEMIA.  59 

premier  plan,  en  face  du  spectateur,  sur  le  bas  de  I'escalier,  il  a  pose 
une  vieille  grognonne  en  robe  bleue  at  capuchon  blanc,  vraie  villageoise 
qui  vient  faire  son  marche  k  la  ville,  et  garde  aupres  d'elle  son  panier 
d'ceufs  et  de  poulets  ;  un  Flamand  ne  risquerait  pas  davantage.  On  se 
sent  dans  uiie  viile  reelle,  peuplee  de  bourgeois  et  des  paysans,  oii  Ton 
exerce  des  metiers,  oii  Ton  accomplit  ses  devotions,  mais  ornee  d'an- 
tiquites,  grandiose  de  structure,  paree  par  les  arts,  illuminee  par  le 
soleil,  assise  dans  le  plus  noble  et  le  plus  riche  des  paysages.  Plus 
meditatifs,  plus  detaches  des  choses,  les  Florentins  creent  un  monde  ideal 
et  abstrait  par  dela  le  notre  ;  plus  spontane,  plus  heureux,  Titien  aime 
notre  monde,  le  comprend,  s'y  enferme,  et  le  reproduit  en  I'embellissant 
sans  le  refondre  ni  le  supprimer."— 7am^. 

488.  Vittore  Carpaccio.     The  Presentation  of  Christ. 

489.  Paul  Veronese.     The  Annunciation. 

490.  Pordenone.     SS.  Lorenzo  Giustiniani,  J.  Baptist,  Francis,  and 

Augustine,  with  the  Lamb. 
*492.    Paris  Bonione.     Tiie  Fisherman  presenting  to  the  Doge  the 
ring  he  received  from  S.  Mark. 

"This  picture  is  like  a  grand  piece  of  scenic  decoration  :  we  have 
before  us  a  magnificent  marble  hall,  with  columns  and  buildings  in  per- 
spective ;  to  the  right,  on  the  summit  of  a  flight  of  steps,  sits  the  Doge 
in  Council ;  the  poor  fisherman,  ascending  the  steps,  holds  forth  the 
ring.  The  numerous  figures,  the  vivid  colour,  the  luxuriant  architecture, 
remind  us  of  Paul  Veronese,  with,  however,  more  delicacy,  both  in 
colour  and  execution." — yameson's  Sacred  Art. 

"The  splendid  execution  gives  this  picture  the  most  attractive  air  of 
truth,  to  which  the  view  of  the  grand  Venetian  buildings  much  con- 
tributes."— Kugler. 

495.  Rocco  Marconi.  The  Descent  from  the  Cross — full  of  grandeur 
and  touching  expression.  This  master  recalls  the  Spanish 
artist  Juan  de  Juanes. 

500.  Bonifazio.     Lazarus  and  the  Rich  Man. 

"  Bonifazio  peignait  le  portrait.  Ses  physiognomies  etudiees  et 
individuellement  caracteristiques,  rappellent  avec  fidelite  les  types  patri- 
ciensde  Venise,  qui  ont  si  souvent  pose  devant  I'artiste.  L'anachronisme 
du  costume  fait  voir  que  Lazare  n'est  qu'un  pretexte  et  que  le  veritable 
sujet  du  tableau  est  un  repas  de  seigneurs  avec  des  courtisanes, 
leurs  maitresses,  au  fjnd  d'un  de  ces  beaux  palais  qui  baignent  leurs 
pieds  de  marbre  dans  I'eau  verte  du  grand  canal." — T.  Gautier. 

503.  y.  Tintoretto.     The  Virgin  and  Child  and  four  Senators. 


6o  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

505.  Bonifazio.     Our  Saviour  enthroned,  with  Saints. 
513.  Paul  Veronese.     The  Marriage  of  Cana. 

519.  Paul  Veronese.  The  Virgin  with  SS.  Joseph,  J.  Baptist,  Jus- 
tina,  Francis,  and  Jerome. 

"Certes,  les  amateurs  de  la  verite  vraie  ne  retrouveront  pas  ici 
I'humble  interieur  du  pauvre  charpentier.  Cette  colonne  en  brocatelle 
rose  de  Verone,  cet  opulent  rideau  ramage,  dont  les  plis  a  riche  cassure 
forment  le  fond  du  tableau,  annoncent  une  habitation  princiere  ;  mais  la 
sainte  famille  est  plutot  une  apotheose  que  la  representation  exacte  du 
pauvre  menage  de  Joseph.  La  presence  de  ce  S.  Fran9ois  portant  une 
palme,  de  ce  pretre  en  camail  et  de  cette  sainte  sur  la  nuque  de  laquelle 
s'enroule,  comme  une  come  d' Ammon,  une  brillante  torsade  de  cheveux 
d'or  i  la  mode  venitienne,  I'estrade  quasi  royale  oil  trone  la  Mere 
divine,  presentant  son  bambin  ^  I'adoration,  le  prouvent  surabondam- 
ment." — T.  Gautier. 

The  xdth  Hall  contains  : — 

•529.  Gentile  Bellini.  Part  of  the  True  Cross  having  fallen  into  one 
of  the  canals  during  a  procession  to  S.  Lorenzo,  is  saved  by 
Andrea  Vendramin,  Guardian  of  the  Confraternity.  Catarina 
Comaro,  Queen  of  Cyprus  and  her  suite,  are  amongst  the 
spectators  lining  the  sides  of  the  canal.  Foremost  amongst  a 
kneeling  group  on  the  right,  is  said  to  be  the  artist  himself. 

"  On  voit  dans  ces  toiles  les  anciennes  maisons  de  Venise  avec  leurs 
murs  rouges,  leurs  fenetres  aux  trefles  lombards,  leurs  terrasses  sur- 
montees  de  piquets,  leurs  cheminees  evasees,  les  vieux  ponts  suspendus 
par  des  chaines,  et  les  gondoles  d' autre  fois,  qui  n'ont  pas  la  forme 
qu'elles  affectent  aujourd'hui :  il  n'y  a  pas  de  felce,  mais  un  drap  tendu 
sur  des  cerceaux  ;  comme  aux  galiotes  de  Saint  Cloud  ;  aucune  ne 
porte  cette  espece  de  manche  de  violon  en  fer  poll  qui  sert  de  contre-poids 
au  rameur  place  a  la  poupe  ;  elles  sont  aussi  beaucoup  moins  effilees." — 
T.  Gautier. 

•533.  Vittore  Carpaccio.  The  Dream  of  S.  Ursula,  the  daughter  of 
Theonotus,  King  of  Brittany,  that  she  must  imdertake  a  pil- 
grimage to  the  shrine  of  the  martyrs. 

"Rien  n'est  plus  elegant,  plus  juvenilement  gracieux  que  la  suite  de 
peintures  ofl  Vittore  Carpaccio  a  represente  la  vie  de  sainte  Ursule. 
Ce  Carpaccio  a  le  charme  ideal,  la  sveltesse  adolescente  de  Raphael 
dans  le  Mariage  de  la  Vierge,  un  de  ses  premiers  et  peut-etre  le  plus 
charmant  de  ses  tableaux  ;  on  ne  saurait  imaginer  rien  des  airs  de  tete 


THE  ACCADEMIA.  6l 

plus  naivement  adorables,  des  tournures  d'une  plus  angelique  coquetterie. 
II  y  a  surtout  un  jeune  homme  a  longs  cheveux  vu  de  dos,  laissant 
glisser  \  demi  sur  son  epaule  sa  cape  au  collet  de  velours,  qui  est  d'une 
beaute  si  fiere,  si  jeune  et  si  seduisante,  qu'on  croirait  voir  le  Cupidon 
de  Praxitele  vetu  d'un  costume  moyen  age,  on  plutot  un  ange  qui  aurait 
eu  la  fantaisie  de  se  travestir  en  magnifiqtie  de  Venise." — T.  Gauiier. 

*534.  Marco  Basaiti.     The  Agony  in  the  Garden — a  lovely  example 
of  the  master. 

537.  Vittore  Carpaccio.  King  Theonotus  dismisses  the  ambassadors 
of  the  pagan  Agrippinus,  king  of  England,  who  had  come  to 
ask  the  hand  of  the  Christian  princess  Ursula,  for  his  son 
Conon. 

539.  Id.  The  ambassadors  ask  of  Theonotus  the  hand  of  his  daughter, 
and  he  confers  with  the  princess  Ursula,  who  demands  that 
Conon  should  first  be  baptised,  and  that  she  should  be  allowed 
three  years  for  her  pilgrimage  with  a  thousand  virgins  her 
companions. 

542.  Id.  Prince  Conon  agreeing  to  the  conditions  of  Ursula,  takes 
leave  of  his  father.  In  the  same  picture  he  is  seen  meeting  his 
betrothed.     He  embarks  with  her  upon  her  pilgrimage. 

544.  Id.     S.  Ursula  and  her  virgins  arrive  at  Cologne. 

546.  Id.     Pope  Cyriacus,  with  his  cardinals,  receives  S.  Ursula,  with 
her  bridegroom,  and  the  Virgins,  at  Rome.     (This  should  pre- 
cede 554.) 
*547.  Paul  Veronese,  1 572.     The  Supper  in  the  Rich  Man's  house. 

548.  Giovanni  Manstieti.      A  Miracle  of  the  True  Cross,  when  the 

monks  who  carried  it  were  stopped  by  an  invisible  power  on 
the  bridge  of  S.  Leone. 

549.  Vittore    Carpaccio.     The  Ambassadors  of  Agrippinus  bringing 

back  the  answer  of  king  Theonotus. 

551.  Sebastiano  Florigerio.       SS.    Francis,  Anthony,    and  John  the 

Evangelist. 

552.  Vittore  Carpaccio.     Meeting  of  SS.  Joachim  and  Anna.     SS. 

Louis  and  Ursula  are  introduced. 
554.  Vittore  Carpaccio.  The  Martyrdom  of  S.  Ursula  and  her 
Virgins. 
*555-  Gentile  Bellini.  A  miracle  of  the  Holy  Cross.  The  scene  is 
the  Piazza  S.  Marco.  The  church  is  exhibited  in  minute  de- 
tail. The  procession  has  issued  from  a  gate  between  the 
church  and  the  ducal  palace.  Near  the  shrine  kneels  Jacopo 
Salis,  the  merchant  of  Brescia,  whose  son  is  supposed  to  have 
been  healed  in  consequence  of  a  vow  which  he  then  made. 


62  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  picture  is  wonderfully  harmonious  and  delicate,  and  is  full 
of  interesting  architecture  and  detail. 

"  In  each  of  these  three  magnificent  compositions  which  were  painted 
by  Gentile  for  the  confraternity  of  S.  John  the  Evangelist,  is  represented 
a  miracle  worked  by  a  fragment  of  the  true  Cross  in  the  possession  of 
the  brotherhood.  In  the  first,  a  young  man  of  Brescia,  dangerously 
wounded  in  the  head,  is  miraculously  cured  in  consequence  of  a  vow 
made  by  his  father  when  this  relic  was  carried  in  a  procession,  and  as  a 
proof  that  the  disposition  of  his  heart  was  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
occupation  of  his  pencil,  the  artist  has  inscribed  the  following  touching 
words  beneath : — 

Gentilis  Bellinus  amore  incensus  crucis,  1466. 

"  The  next  miracle  which  he  represented  was  the  recovery  of  this  very 
relic  from  the  canal,  into  which  it  had  fallen  on  the  day  that  it  was 
carried  in  procession  to  the  church  of  S.  Lorenzo,  by  the  intervention  of 
the  pious  Andrea  Vendramini  after  its  rescue  had  been  vainly  attempted 
by  the  profane.  In  representing  this  beautiful  legend,  the  heart  of  the 
painter  was  even  more  powerfully  affected  than  by  the  former  work, 
and  in  order  to  express  his  increasing  devotion  for  the  holy  sign  of  the 
Redemption,  he  inscribed  underneath  these  still  more  forcible  words  : — 

Gentilis  Bellinus  pio  sanctissimse  crucis  aflfectu  lubens  fecit  1500. 

"  The  third  picture  was  worthy  to  be  the  companion  of  the  two  others. 
The  subject  he  had  to  represent  was  the  miraculous  cure  of  a  member 
of  the  confraternity  from  a  quatemian  fever,  who  is  contemplating  the 
instrument  of  his  recovery  with  ecstatic  admiration.  This  gave  the 
aged  Bellini  another  opportunity  of  displaying  his  pious  imagination  ; 
and  it  was  perhaps  his  last  work,  for  he  died  a  few  years  after  its  com- 
pletion, and  we  may  be  permitted  to  suppose  that  he  often  dwelt  on 
the  consoling  thought  that  it  embodies,  and  looked  himself  to  the  Cross 
for  the  cure  of  all  his  infirmities." — Rio. 

560.  Vittore  Carpaccio,  1491.     S.  Ursula  with  her  virgins  and  Pope 

Ciriacus,  receiving  the  reward  of  her  martyrdom.  This  pic- 
ture is  the  last  of  the  series,  which  is  arranged  in  the  gallery 
in  the  order  of  the  dates  at  which  it  was  painted. 

561.  Luigi  Vivarini,  1480.     The  Virgin  and  Child  throned  between 

saints  -  of  the  greatest  dignity  and  expression. 
564.   Vittore  Carpaccio.     A  sick  man  healed  by  the  True  Cross  which 
is  presented  from  a  balcony  by  the  Patriarch  of  Grado.     The 
old  Rialto— called  *'  Del  Bagatin  " — is  introduced. 


I 


PALAZZO  REZZONICO,  PALAZZO  FOSCARL  63 

In  the  1 7M  Hall  are : — 

566.    Domenico   Tintoretto,   1595.     Benedetto  Marcello,  Procuratore 

of  S.  Marco. 
568.  yacopo  Tintoretto.     The  Descent  from  the  Cross. 
*572.  Bonifazio.     Adoration  of  the  Magi. 
582.   Ciina  da  Conegliano.     The  Virgin  and  Child  throned,  wnth  SS. 

Sebastian,  George,  Jerome,  Nicholas,  Catherine  and  Lucy. 
586.  Bonifazio.     SS.  Benedict  and  Sebastian. 
593.  Palma  Vecchio.     S.  Peter  throned,  with  other  saints. 

The  remaining  Halls  are  of  no  importance. 

Re-entering  our  gondola,  we  see  on  the  left  the  Pa- 
lazzo Contarini  degli  Scrtgni,  of  which  one  side  is  built  in 
the  Lombard  style,  1504 — 1546,  the  others  in  the  Gothic  of 
the  15th  century.  On  the 'latter  are  two  Renaissance 
statues,  probably  by  Ant.  Rizzi.  There  were  eight  doges 
of  the  Contarini  family,  and  their  wealth  was  so  great  that 
the  people  called  their  residence  II  Palazzo  degli  Scrigni,  or 
"  of  the  money  chests." 

Beyond  this  is  the  Palazzo  Rezzonico,  which  belongs  to 
the  Infante  of  Spain,  begun  by  Lofighena  in  t68o,  finished 
by  Massari,  1745.  The  Rezzonico  family  was  founded 
here  by  the  merchant  Aurelia  :  one  of  its  members  mounted 
the  papal  throne  as  Clement  XIII.  Passing  the  two  Palazzi 
Giustiniani  oi  the  15  th  century,  we  reach  the  noble  Palazzo 
Foscari  of  1437. 

This  palace  will  always  be  connected  with  the  touching  story  of  Doge 
Foscari.  His  son  Giacopo  was  accused  to  the  Council  of  Ten  of  having 
received  presents  from  foreign  princes,  by  a  nobleman  named  Loredano 
who  believed  that  the  death  of  two  of  his  own  relations  had  been  due 
to  the  Doge,  and  who  wrote  in  his  books  "  Francesco  Foscari,  debtor 
for  the  deaths  of  my  father  and  uncle. " 

Giacopo  was  tortured  on  the  rack  and,  being  found  guilty,  his  father 
was  forced  to  pronounce  his  sentence  of  banishment.  For  five  years 
he  languished  in  exile  at  Treviso,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  was  accused 
of  having  compassed  the  murder  of  Donato,  a  Venetian  senator,  from 


64  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

the  mere  fact  of  a  servant  of  his  being  found  near  at  the  time.  He  was 
brought  back  to  Venice,  again  tried  on  the  rack,  and  banished  for  life, 
on  presumptive  evidence,  to  Candia.  Hence  Giacopo  unwisely  wrote 
to  entreat  the  intercession  of  Francesco  Sforza,  Duke  of  Milan.  The 
letter  was  carried  to  the  Council  of  Ten.  He  was  brought  again  to 
Venice,  flogged,  and  then  tortured.  Being  asked  what  had  induced  him  to 
write  to  a  foreign  prince,  he  replied  that  he  had  done  it  knowing  the 
risk,  but  feeling  that  it  would  be  worth  while  to  undergo  the  torture  a 
third  time,  to  breathe  once  more  the  same  air  with  his  parents,  his  wife, 
and  children.  He  was  again  condemned  to  be  banished,  but  this  time 
a  sentence  of  close  imprisonment  was  added. 

One  farewell  interview  was  allowed  with  the  aged  Doge  and  Dogar- 
essa,  his  wife  Marina,  and  his  children.  "  Ah,  my  lord,  plead  for  me," 
he  cried,  stretching  out  his  hands  to  his  father,  who  replied  firmly 
— "  O  Giacopo,  obey  what  thy  country  commands  and  seek  nothing 
else." 

On  reaching  his  prison  Giacopo  died  of  a  broken  heart.  Immediately 
afterwards,  but  too  late,  his  innocence  was  completely  established  : 
Erizzo,  a  Venetian  nobleman,  confessed,  on  his  death-bed,  that  he  was 
the  murderer  of  Donato. 

Yet  the  vengeance  of  Loredano  was  not  yet  complete.  The  sobs  of  the 
Doge  on  taking  leave  of  his  unhappy  son  were  made  the  foundation  of 
an  accusation  of  imbecility  and  incapacity  for  government.  He  was 
formally  deposed  and  ordered  to  quit  the  Ducal  palace  within  eight 
days.  Loredano  had  the  cruel  pleasure  of  carrying  the  mandate  to  the 
Doge,  who  listened  quietly  and  then  answered — "  I  little  thought  that 
my  old  age  would  be  injurious  to  the  State  ;  but  I  yield  to  the  decree." 
Stripping  himself  of  his  robes,  and  accompanied  by  all  his  family,  he 
left  the  palace  where  he  had  reigned  for  thirty-five  years  and  returned 
to  his  own  house  on  the  canal.  But  the  sound  of  the  great  bell  which 
announced  the  election  of  his  successor  was  his  death-knell ;  he  burst  a 
blood-vessel  and  died  instantly. 

"  When  the  bell  rang 
At  dawn,  announcing  a  new  Doge  to  Venice, 
It  found  him  on  his  knees  before  the  Cross, 
Clasping  his  aged  hands  in  earnest  prayer ; 
And  there  he  died.     Ere  half  its  task  was  done, 
It  rang  his  knell." — Rogers. 

So  great  was  the  popular  excitement  on  hearing  of  this  event,  that  the 
senate  forbade  "  the  affair  of  Francesco  Foscari  to  be  mentioned  on 
pain  of  death." 


PALAZZO  FOSCARI,  PALAZZO  PISANL  65 

The  Foscari  and  its  two  adjoining  palaces  form  a  most 
conspicuous  group  at  the  end  of  the  first  reach  of  the  Grand 
Canal. 

"  They  certainly  form  a  most  magnificent  group,  and  are  in  every  way 
worthy  of  their  conspicuous  position.  The  palace  at  the  junction  of  the 
two  waters  is  that  of  the  Foscari ;  the  others  belonged,  I  believe,  to  the 
Giustiniani  family.  The  date  of  the  smaller  palaces,  and  probably  of 
the  large  one  also,  is  very  early  in  the  fifteenth  century  ;  and  the  latter 
had,  in  1574,  the  honour  of  being  the  grandest  palace  that  the  Venetians 
could  find  in  which  to  lodge  Henry  III.  of  France.  They  are  all  three 
very  similar  in  their  design.  Their  water-gates  are  pointed,  and  the 
windows  in  the  water-stage  small  and  unimportant.  The  second  stage 
is  more  important,  and  has  cusped  ogee  window-heads  and  balconies. 
The  third  stage  is,  however,  the  piano  tiobile,  all  the  windows  having 
deep  traceried  heads  and  large  balconies.  The  fourth  stage  is  very 
nearly  like  the  first,  save  that  instead  of  balconies  there  is  a  delicate 
balustrading  between  the  shafts  of  the  windows,  which  is  very  frequent 
in  good  Venetian  work,  and  always  very  pretty  in  its  effect." — G.  E. 
Street. 

We  should  enter  the  narrow  canal  called  Rio  di  Ca' 
Foscari  at  the  side  of  the  Palace. 

"  Here,  almost  immediately  after  passing  the  great  gateway  of  the 
Foscari  court-yard,  we  shall  see  on  the  left,  in  the  ruinous  and  time- 
stricken  walls  which  tower  over  the  water,  the  white  cur\'e  of  a  circu- 
lar (Byzantine)  arch  covered  with  sculpture,  and  fragments  of  the  bases 
of  small  pillars,  entangled  among  festoons  of  the  Erba  della  Madonna. " 
— Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  Appendix  ii. 

Next  comes  the  Palazzo  Balbi  oi  1582,  followed  by  the 
Palazzo  Grimani  a  S.  Polo  (1475 — '^A^S)i  with  beautifully 
sculptured  capitals.  Close  to  this,  near  the  Ponte  S.  Toma, 
is  an  ancient  doorway  of  the  12  th  century.  There  is  a  good 
early  Gothic  door  on  the  bridge  itself 

Passing  the  Palazzo  Persico  and  the  Palazzo  Tiepolo 
(1501),  we  reach  the  noble  Palazzo  Pisant,  a  splendid  build- 
ing of  the  15th  century.  There  is  a  gallery  here  hung  with 
fine  old  Venetian  mirrors.  It  was  from  this  palace  that  the 
VOL.  II.  5 


66  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Paul  Veronese  of  "  the  Family  of  Darius  "  was  purchased  for 
the  British  National  Gallery  for  ,^13,560. 

The  neighbouring  Palazzo  Barbarigo  delta  Terrazza,  of 
the  15  th  century,  is  the  work  of  Scamozzi,  and  was  at  one 
time  the  residence  of  Titian.  Its  fine  collection  of  pictures 
is  now  at  S.  Petersburgh. 

The  Palazzo  Bernardo  is  a  fine  building  of  the  15  th  century. 

Passing  the  Traghetto  della  Madonnetta,  is  a  small  palace, 
with  vestiges  of  arcades  and  Byzantine  work,  called  by 
Ruskin  The  Madonnetta  House. 

The,  Palazzo  Dona  is  much  restored.  Of  this  family  were 
the  Doges  Francesco  Benzon,  1545,  and  Leonardo  Nicolo, 
16 18.  The  Palazzo  Tiepolo  is  Renaissance  of  the  i6th  cen- 
tury, but  possesses  five  central  windows  with  a  plaited  or 
braided  border  of  Byzantine  work :  hence  it  is  called  by 
Ruskin,  The  Braided  House.  Close  by  is  the  Casa  Busi- 
tiello,  on  the  side  of  which  the  Byzantine  mouldings  appear 
in  the  first  and  second  stories  of  a  house  lately  restored. 

Immediately  opposite  the  Palazzo  Grimani  is  the  Byzan- 
tine building  described  by  Ruskin  as  The  Terraced  House. 
**  It  has  a  small  terrace  in  front  of  it,  and  a  little  court  with 
a  door  to  the  water,  beside  the  terrace.  Half  the  house  is 
visibly  modern,  and  there  is  a  great  seam,  like  the  edge  of  a 
scar,  between  it  and  the  ancient  remnant,  in  which  the  cir- 
cular bands  of  the  Byzantine  arches  will  be  instantly  recog- 
nised." 

Near  the  bend  of  the  canal  we  now  pass  the  Church  of  S. 
Silvestro,  which  is  only  of  interest  as  containing, 

1st  Altar  on  the  left. — 

Cirolamo  de  Santa  Croce.     S.  Thomas  a  Becket  with  the  Baptist  and 
S.  Fiancis. 


THE  RIALTO.  ^7 

1st  Altar  on  the  right. — 

Tintoret.     The  Baptism  of  Christ  (the  upper  part  an  addition). 

"  There  is  simply  the  Christ  in  the  water,  and  the  S.  John  on  the 
shore,  without  attendants,  disciples,  or  witnesses  of  any  kind  ;  but  the 
power  of  light  and  shade,  and  the  splendour  of  the  landscape,  which  is 
on  the  whole  well-preserved,  render  it  a  most  interesting  example.  The 
Jordan  is  represented  as  a  mountain-brook,  receiving  a  tributary  stream 
in  a  cascade  from  the  rocks,  in  which  S.  John  stands  :  there  is  a  rounded 
stone  in  the  centre  of  the  current ;  and  the  parting  of  the  water  at 
this,  as  well  as  its  rippling  among  the  roots  of  some  dark  trees  on  the 
left,  are  among  the  most  accurate  resemblances  of  nature  to  be  found  in 
any  of  the  works  of  the  great  masters.  I  hardly  know  whether  most  to 
wonder  at  the  power  of  the  man  who  thus  broke  through  the  neglect  of 
nature  which  was  universal  at  his  time ;  or  at  the  evidences,  visible 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  conception,  that  he  was  still  content  to 
paint  from  slight  memories  of  what  he  had  seen  in  hill-countries,  in- 
stead of  following  out  to  its  full  depth  the  fountain  which  he  had  opened. 
There  is  not  a  stream  among  the  hills  of  Friuli  which  in  any  quarter  of 
a  mile  of  its  course  would  not  have  suggested  to  him  finer  forms  of 
cascade  than  those  which  he  has  idly  painted  at  Venice." — Ruskin, 
Stones  of  Venice,  iii. 

The  famous  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  by  Paul  Veronese,  in  our  National 
Gallery,  was  painted  for  this  church  in  1573. 

We  now  approach  the  bridge — till  lately  the  only  bridge 
over  the  Grand  Canal — which  is  called  by  English  abbre- 
viation the  Rialto.  Venetians  speak  of  it  as  Ponte  di  RialtOy 
for  this  part  of  the  town  was  the  ancient  city  of  Venice,  and 
derives  its  name  from  Rtvo-alto,  as  the  land  on  the  left  of 
the  canal  was  called  here.  After  the  limits  of  the  town 
were  extended,  it  continued,  like  the  city  of  London,  to  be 
the  centre  of  commerce  and  trade.  In  this  quarter  were  the 
Fabriche,  or  warehouses  and  custom-houses,  and  many  of 
the  handsomest  buildings,  such  as  the  Fondaco  dei  Turchi, 
and  the  Fondaco  de'  Tedeschi.  The  Rialto  which  Shake- 
speare alludes  to,  when  Shylock  is  made  to  say — 


68  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

*'  Signer  Antonio,  many  a  time  and  oft 
In  the  Rialto  you  have  rated  me 
About  my  monies  " 

refers,  of  course,  to  this  quarter  of  the  town,  and  not  to  the 
bridge. 

The  J^on^e  di  Rialto  (span  of  arch  91  ft.,  height  24|-  ft., 
width  72  ft.),  was  begun  in  1588,  under  Doge  Pasquale 
Cicogna,  by  Antonio  da  Ponte.     It  is  covered  with  shops. 

Close  to  the  bridge  is  the  Church  of  S.  Giacomo  di  Rialto, 
said  to  date  from  the  earUest  foundation,  but  possessing  no 
remains  of  its  antiquity.  Over  the  high-altar  is  a  statue  of 
the  patron  saint  by  Alessandro  Vittoria.  The  statue  of  S. 
Antonio  is  by  Girolamo  Campagna. 

"  The  campanile  of  S.  Giacomo  is  a  perfectly  fine  example.  It  is 
almost  entirely  of  brick,  and  the  long  lines  of  its  arcades  give  great  effect 
of  height,  while  the  details  are  all  good  and  quite  Gothic  in  their  charac- 
ter. " — Street. 

Facing  the  church,  is  the  curious  statue  of  a  hunch-back, 
//  Gobbo  di  Rialto,  the  work  of  Pietro  da  Salo,  supporting  a 
pillar  from  whose  back  the  Laws  of  the  Republic  used  to  be 
proclaimed. 

In  the  times  of  the  RepubHc  this  was  the  centre  of  mer- 
cantile life  in  Venice. 

"  These  porticoes  are  daily  frequented  by  Florentine,  Genoese,  and 
Milanese  merchants,  by  those  from  Spain  and  Turkey,  and  all  the  other 
different  nations  of  the  world,  who  assemble  here  in  such  vast  multi- 
tudes, that  this  piazza  is  celebrated  amongst  the  first  in  the  universe. " — 
Sansovino,  1580. 

The  market-place  is  still  full  of  colour  and  picturesque- 

ness  : — 

"All  the  pictures  out  of  all  the  churches  are  buying  and  selling  in 
this  busy  market ;  Virgins  go  by,  carrying  their  infants  ;  S.  Feter  is 
bargaining  his  silver  fish  ;  Judas  is  making  a  low  bow  to  a  fat  old  monk, 


THE  RIALTO.  69 

who  holds  up  his  brown  skirts  and  steps  with  bare  legs  into  a  mysterious 
black  gondola  that  has  been  waiting  by  the  bridge,  and  that  silently 
glides  away.  .  .  Then  a  cripple  goes  by  upon  his  crutches  ;  then  comes 
a  woman  carrying  a  beautiful  little  boy,  with  a  sort  of  turban  round  her 
head.  One  corner  of  the  market  is  given  up  to  great  hobgoblin  pump- 
kins ;  tomatos  are  heaped  in  the  stalls  ;  oranges  and  limes  are  not  yet 
over  ;  but  perhaps  the  fish-stalls  are  the  prettiest  of  all.  Silver  fish  tied 
up  in  stars  with  olive-green  leaves,  gold  fish,  as  in  miracles ;  noble 
people  serving.  There  are  the  jewellers'  shops  too,  but  their  wares  do 
not  glitter  so  brightly  as  all  this  natural  beautiful  gold  and  silver." — 
Miss  Thackeray. 

We  must  now  return  to  our  gondola  at  the  little  wharf 
near  the  bridge,  one  of  the  most  picturesque  sites  on  the 
Grand  Canal. 

"  Venice  is  sad  and  silent  now,  to  what  she  was  in  the  time  of  Cana- 
letto ;  the  canals  are  choked  gradually,  one  by  one,  and  the  foul  water 
laps  more  and  more  sluggishly  against  the  rent  foundations  ;  but  even 
yet  could  I  but  place  the  reader  at  the  early  morning  on  the  quay  below 
the  Rialto,  when  the  market  boats,  full  laden,  float  into  groups  of  golden 
colour  ;  and  let  him  watch  the  dashing  of  the  water  about  their  glitter- 
ing steelly  heads,  and  under  the  shadows  of  the  vine  leaves  ;  and  shew 
him  the  purple  of  the  grapes  and  the  figs,  and  the  glowing  of  the  scarlet 
gourds  carried  away  in  long  streams  upon  the  waves  ;  and  among  them 
the  crimson  fish  baskets,  plashing  and  sparkling,  and  flaming  as  the 
morning  sun  falls  on  their  wet  tawny  sides  ;  and  above,  the  painted 
•sails  of  the  fishing  boats,  orange  and  white,  scarlet  and  blue  ;  and 
better  than  all  such  florid  colour,  the  naked,  bronzed,  burning  limbs  of 
the  seamen,  the  last  of  the  old  Venetian  race,  who  yet  keep  the  right 
Giorgione  colour  on  their  brows  and  bosoms,  in  strange  contrast  with 
the  sallow  sensual  degradation  of  the  creatures  that  live  in  the  cafes  of 
the  Piazza,  he  would  not  be  merciful  to  Canaletto  any  more. " — Ruskin, 
Modern  Painters. 

We  should  visit  the  little  piazza  which  opens  to  the 
Rialto,  on  the  S.  Mark's  side  of  the  canal,  for  the  sake  of 
some  very  interesting  examples  of  the  third  order  of  Vene- 
tian windows  in  one  of  its  houses. 

"  The  house  faces  the  bridge,  and  its  second  story  has  been  biiilt  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  above  a  still  earlier  Byzantine  cornice  remaining. 


70  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

or  perhaps  introduced  from  some  other  ruined  edifice,  m  the  walls  of 
the  first  floor.  The  windows  of  the  second  story  are  of  pure  third  order, 
and  have  capitals  constantly  varying  in  the  form  of  the  flower  or  leaf  in- 
troduced between  their  oolites." — Riiskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  ii.  vii. 

Close  to  the  Rialto  on  the  left  is  the  Palazzo  del  Camer- 
lenght,  built  in  1525  by  Guglielmo Bergamesco,  but  of  irregular 
form  owing  to  the  space  afforded.  Here  the  three  Camer- 
lenghi  dwelt  as  Treasurers  of  the  State  under  the  Republic. 

Passing  the  Traghetto  of  the  Pescheria,  we  reach  the 
Palazzo  Corner della  Pegina,%o  called  from  Caterina  Cornaro, 
Queen  of  Cyprus,  who  lived  here.  It  was  bequeathed  by 
her  to  Pope  Pius  VII,,  who  gave  it  to  the  Counts  of  Cavanis, 
founders  of  the  Scuole  Pie.  The  palace  was  built  in  1724 
by  Domenico  Rossi.     It  is  now  used  as  a  Monte  de  Pietk. 

Passing  the  Traghetto  of  S.  Felix,  we  reach  the  magnificent 
Palazzo  Pesaro,  built  by  Baldassare  Longhena,  i6-jg.  The 
Pesaro  family  is  one  of  the  most  illustrious  in  Venetian 
history.  They  first  came  to  Venice  in  1225,  being  descended 
from  Jacopo  Palmieri  of  Pesaro.  Besides  the  famous  gen- 
eral Bernardo  Pesaro,  and  the  Doge  Giovanni,  many  illus- 
trious generals  and  procurators  were  of  this  house. 

"The  Pesaro  Palace,  built  by  Longhena,  though  over  ornamented, 
has  no  striking  faults.  Though  not  in  the  purest  taste,  it  still  perfectly 
expresses  the  fact  that  it  is  the  residence  of  a  wealthy  and  luxurious 
noble,  and  is,  taken  as  a  whole,  a  singularly  picturesque  piece  oi 
palatial  architecture.  From  the  water-line  to  the  cornice,  it  is  a  rich, 
varied,  and  appropriate  design,  so  beautiful  as  a  whole  that  we  can 
well  afford  to  overlook  any  slight  irregularities  in  detail." — Fergusson. 

A  little  beyond  this  is  the  Church  of  S.  Stae  (S.  Eustachio) 
built  by  Dom.  Possi,  in  1 709.  To  the  right  of  the  second 
altar  is  the  bust  of  Giovanni  Grassi,  beheaded  for  political 
crimes  in  April,  1622,  and  pardoned  in  the  following  year 


FOND  ACQ  DEI  TURCHI,  MUSEO  CORKER.  71 

by  a  decree  of  the  Council  of  Ten,  which  declared  him 
innocent ! 

Passing  first  the  Palazzo  Duodo,  built  originally  in  Gothic 
of  the  15th  century,  but  altered,  then  the  classic  Palazzo 
Tron,  and  the  Palazzo  Capovilla,  we  reach  the  Fondaco  dei 
Turchi,  a  Byzantine  palace  of  the  9th  century,  and  one  of 
the  earliest  buildings,  not  ecclesiastical,  in  Venice.  It 
belonged  originally  to  the  house  of  Este,  but  was  purchased 
by  the  Republic  in  the  i6th  century  for  the  Turkish  mer- 
chants. A  few  years  ago  it  was  one  of  the  most  unique 
and  curious  buildings  in  Europe,  but  it  was  modernized 
and  almost  rebuilt  by  the  present  Government  in  1869.* 

We  now  reach  the  Museo  Correr,  open  from  10  to  4  on 
Mondays,  Wednesdays,  and  Saturdays.  It  contains  a  vast 
amount  of  rubbish.     The  better  part  of  its  collection  are 

Entrance  Hall. — 
Two  curious  wells  of  the  9th  and  13th  centuries. 

\st  Floor,  2nd  Room  Right. — 
The  Cup  of  Doge  Manin. 

The  Door  of  the  Bucentaur  through  which  the  Doge  threw  the 
ring  into  the  sea. 

Pictures: 

14.   Gentile  Bellini.     Doge  Francesco  Foscari. 
16.    Giovanni  Bellini.     Doge  Mocenigo. 
49.    V.  Carpcucio.     The  Salutation. 
52.  Marco  Palmezzano.  The  Cross-bearing. 

The  last  side  canal  on  the  left  before  the  Iron  Bridge 
leads  almost  immediately  to  the  Church  of  S.  Simeone 
Grande,  dating  from  the  loth  century.  It  contains  a  picture 
of  the  Trinity  by  Vincenzo  Catena.     Behind  the  high  altar 

•  Ruskin  speaks  of  seven  other  Byzantine  palaces  in  Venice,  which  he  enumerates 
as,  the  Casa  Loredan,  Ca<a  Farsetti,  Rio-Fosciri  House,  Terraced  House,  Madon- 
netta  House,  Braided  House,  and  Casa  Businello. 


72  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

is  the  Statue  of  S.  Simeone  Profeta,  a  glorious  work  of  Marco 
Romano,  131 7. 

"The  face  is  represented  in  death  ;  the  mouth  partly  open,  the  lips 
thin  and  sharp,  the  teeth  carefully  sculptured  beneath  ;  the  face  full  of 
quietness  and  majesty,  though  very  ghastly  ;  the  hair  and  beard  flowing 
in  luxuriant  wreaths,  disposed  with  the  most  masterly  freedom  yet 
severity  of  design,  far  down  upon  the  shoulders  ;  the  hands  crossed 
upon  the  body,  carefully  studied,  with  the  veins  and  sinews  perfectly 
and  easily  expressed,  yet  without  any  attempt  at  extreme  finish  or  play 
of  technical  skill.  This  monument  bears  date  131 7,  and  its  sculptor 
was  justly  proud  of  it ;  thus  recording  his  name  : 

'  Celavit  Marcus  opus  hoc  insigne  Romanus, 
Laudibus  haud  parcis  est  sua  digna  manus.'  " 

Ruskitt,  Stones  of  Venue. 

A  visit  to  this  marvellous  statue,  which  no  one  should 
omit  seeing,  forms  a  satisfactory  close  to  our  examination  of 
the  left  bank  of  the  Grand  Canal  (for  S.  Simeone  Piccolo 
and  the  Giardino  Papadopoli  beyond  the  Iron  Bridge,  are 
not  worth  seeing). 

Turning  our  attention  to  the  opposite  bank,  we  find, 
immediately  beyond  the  Railway  Station,  the  Church 
of  the  Scalzi  (S.  Maria  di  Scalzi) — or  Bare-footed  Friars,  built 
at  the  expense  of  six  noble  families  by  Baldassare  lAjnghena, 
1649 — 1689.  The  interior  is  most  gorgeous  in  marbles 
and  inlaid  work,  and  doubtless  finds  many  admirers. 
The  last  Doge  of  Venice,  Lodovico  Manin,  is  buried  here. 
He  fell  down  in  a  fainting  fit  from  his  anguish,  at  the 
moment  of  taking  the  oath  to  Austria,  and  one  cannot  read 
without  sympathy  his  simple  epitaph — "  Manini  Cineres."  * 
Behind  the  high-altar  is  the  gem  of  the  church — a  Madonna 
and  Child,  by  Giovanni  Bellini. 

*  It  is  curious  that  a  Buonaparte  \n  restoring  '^''enice  to  Italy,  after  6q  ^ears  of 
servitude,  should  have  given  back  the  national  independence  which  another  Buona- 
parte had  taken  away. 


PALAZZO  LABIA,  P.    VENDRAMIN  CALERGIIL       73 

"  This  church  is  a  perfect  type  of  the  vulgar  abuse  of  marble  in  every 
possible  way,  by  men  who  had  no  eye  for  colour,  and  no  understanding 
of  any  merit  in  a  work  of  art  but  that  which  arises  from  costliness  of 
material. " — Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  iii. 

A  little  further,  where  the  broad  canal  called  Canareggio 
opens,  is  the  Church  of  S.  Geremia,  a  Greek  cross,  designed 
by  Carlo  Corcellini,  1753.     It  is  of  no  interest. 

Close  to  the  church  is  the  Palazzo  Labia,  built  1720 — 
1750,  by  Andrea  Cominelli,  a  good  specimen  of  its  time.  It 
contains  a  magnificent  dining-room,  painted  by  Tiepolo — a 
glorious  specimen  of  an  old  palace-chamber. 

On  the  Canareggio,  a  little  beyond  the  church,  is  the 
Palazzo  Manfrin^  of  the  17th  century,  with  a  picture-gallery 
which  is  open  daily,  but  contains  nothing  worth  seeing,  all 
the  good  pictures  having  been  sold. 

Returning  to  the  Grand  Canal,  we  pass  the  Campo  and 
Church  of  S.  Marcuola.  This  is  the  vulgar  name  for  the 
church  dedicated  to  SS.  Ermegora  and  Fortunato.  Bernoni, 
in  his  amusing  book  on  the  legends  of  Venice,  gives  a  ghost 
story  connected  with  this  building — of  the  parish  priest 
who  was  dragged  out  of  bed  and  soundly  kicked  and  cuffed 
by  all  the  corpses  buried  in  his  church,  because  he  had 
declared  in  his  sermons  his  disbelief  in  ghosts — and  had 
dared  to  say — "  Where  the  dead  are,  there  they  stay." 

A  little  beyond  this  is  the  Palazzo  Vendramin  Calerghi. 
This  is  one  of  the  few  Venetian  palaces  which  are  well 
kept  up,  and  it  has  "  a  garden  beside  it,  rich  with  ever- 
greens, and  decorated  by  gilded  railings  and  white  statues 
that  cast  long  streams  of  snowy  reflection  down  into  the 
deep  water,"  It  was  built  in  1481  by  Pietro  Lombardo 
for  Andrea  Loredan.  A  hundred  years  afterwards  it 
was  sold  to   the   Duke  of  Brunswick,   who,   in  his  turn, 


74  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

sold  it  to  the  Duke  oi  Mantua.  A  lawsuit  afterwards 
compelled  its  re-sale,  and,  in  1589,  it  was  bought  by  Vittore 
Calerghi,  whose  family  becoming  extinct  in  the  male  line,  it 
passed  to  the  Grimani,  and  thence  to  the  Vendramini, 
by  whom  it  was  sold  in  1842  to  the  Duchesse  de  Berri, 
mother  of  Henri  V.,  Comte  de  Chambord. 

The  facade  (78  ft.  long,  63  ft.  high)  is  built  of  grey  Istrian 
stone,  with  pillars  of  Greek  marble,  and  medallions  ot 
porphyry.  The  wing  towards  the  garden  is  by  V.  Scamozzi. 
In  the  interior  are  two  beautiful  statues  of  Adam  and  Eve 
by  Tallio  Lombardo. 

"  In  the  Palazzo  Vendramini  nothing  can  exceed  the  beauty  of  the 
proportions  of  the  three  cornices,  and  the  dignity  of  that  which  crowns 
the  whole.  The  base,  too,  is  sufficiently  solid  without  being  heavy, 
and  the  windows  being  all  mullioned,  and  the  spaces  between  rein- 
forced with  three-quarter  columns,  there  is  no  appearance  of  weakness 
anywhere,  while  there  is  almost  as  much  opening  for  light  and  air  as  in 
any  building  of  its  age." — Fergusson. 

The  neighbouring  Palazzo  Marcello  was  the  residence  of 
Benedetto  Marcello,  the  musician.  The  Palazzo  Erizzo, 
of  the  15th  century,  has  pictures  of  the  heroic  exploits 
of  Paolo  Erizzo  at  the  defence  of  Negroponte. 

At  the  opening  of  the  next  side  canal  is  the  Palazzo 
Grimani  of  the  i6th  century.  It  was  formerly  decorated 
outside  by  frescoes  of  Tintoret  which  have  disappeared. 
There  were  three  Doges  of  the  Grimani  family. 

No  building  of  importance  now  occurs  till  the  fairy-like 
Co'  Doro,  so  named  from  its  ancient  owners,  the  family  of 
Doro.  It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  graceful  of  the 
15th-century  palaces,  and  is  crowned,  like  the  Ducal  Palace, 
by  an  adaptation  of  the  delicate  "crown-like  ornaments 
which  crest  the  walls  of  the  Arabian  mosque." 


CORTE  DEL  RENER.  75 

Beyond  this  is  the  Palazzo  Morosini  or  Sagredo,  dating 
from  the  13th  century,  but  altered  in  later  times.  It  has  a 
grand  staircase  by  Andrea  Tirali,  decorated  with  a  picture 
of  the  Fall  of  the  Giants  by  Longhi,  1734.  Nicolo  Sagredo 
was  Doge  in  1674. 

Close  by  is  the  Palazzo  Micheli  delle  Colonne,  of  the  1 7th 
century.  It  contains  some  fine  old  tapestries  of  the  history 
of  Darius  and  Alexander  the  Great.  Three  Doges  belonged 
to  the  Micheli  family;  Vitale  (1095)  distinguished  in  the 
Holy  Land  ;  Domenico  (i  1 17)  who  fought  in  the  East ;  and 
Vitale  II.  (son  of  the  last,  1155)  who  espoused  the  cause  of 
Pope  Alexander  III.  against  Frederick  Barbarossa.  Ad- 
joining this  palace  is  the  Corte  del  Rener  with  Gothic  win- 
dows of  the  15  th  century,  and  an  interesting  house  inlaid  with 
bands  of  colour. 

"  One  of  the  houses  in  the  Corte  del  Rener  is  remarkable  as  having 
its  great  entrance  ou  the  first  floor,  attained  by  a  bold  flight  of  steps, 
sustained  on  four  pointsd  arches  wrought  in  brick.  The  rest  of  the 
aspect  of  the  building  is  Byzantine,  except  only  that  the  rich  sculptures 
of  its  archivolt  show  in  combats  of  animals,  beneath  the  soffit,  a  be- 
ginning of  the  Gothic  fire  and  energy.  The  moulding  of  its  plinth  is 
of  a  Gothic  profile,  and  the  windows  are  pointed,  not  with  a  reversed 
curve,  but  in  a  pure  straight  gable,  very  curiously  contrasted  with  the 
delicate  bending  of  the  pieces  of  marble  armour  cut  for  the  shoulders  of 
each  arch.  There  is  a  two-lighted  window,  on  each  side  of  the  door, 
sustained  in  the  centre  by  a  basket- worked  Byzantine  capital :  the  mode 
of  covering  the  brick  archivolt  with  marble,  both  in  the  windows  and 
doorway,  is  precisely  like  that  of  the  true  Byzantine  palaces." — Raskin, 
Stones  of  Venice,  ii.  vii. 

The  neighbouring  Church  of  the  Apostoli  is  for  the  most 
part  modern,  but  the  tower  of  the  13th  century 

Close  to  the  Riaito  is  the  Fondaco  del  Tedeschi,  built  for 
the  German  merchants  by  decree  of  the  Senate,  by  Girolamo 
Tedesco*  in  1505.     The  side  towards  the  Grand  Canal  was 

•  A  German  named  Jerome. 


76  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

painted  by  Giorgione,  and  that  towards  the  Merceria  by 
Titian,  whose  works  on  this  occasion  so  excited  the  jealousy 
of  his  companion,  as  to  break  off  an  old  friendship  between 
the  two  artists.     The  frescoes  have  now  perished. 

Passing  the  Rialto,  we  reach  the  Palazzo  Manin  (built  in 
the  1 6th  century  by  Jacopo  Sansovino).  It  is  now  the 
National  Bank.  The  Manin  family  came  from  Florence  and 
was  ennobled  during  the  war  of  Chioggia  for  a  sum  of  money 
paid  to  the  State.  The  last  Doge  of  Venice  was  a  Manin 
and  lived  here. 

Just  beyond  this,  grouping  well  with  the  Rialto,  is  the 
Palazzo  Bembo,  of  the  beginning  of  the  15th  century.  There 
is  a  beautiful  Byzantine  cornice  above  the  entresol.  Next 
comes  Palazzo  Dandolo,  of  the  1 2th  century,  interesting  as 
having  been  the  residence  of  Enrico  Dandolo,  the  conqueror 
of  Constantinople. 

"Enrico  Dandolo,  when  elected  Doge,  in  1192,  was  eighty-five  years 
of  age.  When  he  commanded  the  Venetians  at  the  taking  of  Constan- 
tinople, he  was  consequently  ninety-seven  years  old.  At  this  age  he 
annexed  the  fourth  and  a  half  of  the  whole  empire  of  Romania,  for  so 
the  Roman  empire  was  then  called,  to  the  title  and  territories  of  the 
Venetian  Doge. 

"  Dandolo  led  the  attack  on  Constantinople  in  person  :  two  ships,  the 
Paradise  and  the  Pilgrim,  were  tied  together,  and  a  drawbridge  or 
ladder  let  down  from  their  higher  yards  to  the  walls.  The  Doge  was 
one  of  the  first  to  rush  into  the  city.  Then  was  completed,  said  the 
Venetians,  the  prophecy  of  the  Erythraean  sybil :  '  A  gathering  to- 
gether of  the  powerful  shall  be  made  amidst  the  waves  of  the  Adriatic, 
under  a  third  leader ;  they  shall  beset  the  goat — they  shall  profane 
Byzantium — they  shall  blacken  her  buildings — ^her  spoils  shall  be  dis. 
persed ;  a  new  goat  shall  bleat  until  they  have  measured  out  and  run 
over  fifty-four  feet,  nine  inches,  and  a  half. '  "  —  Byron,  Notes  to  Childe 
Harold. 

We  now  reach  Palazzo  Loredan,  of  the  12  th  century, 
covered  with  the  richest  sculpture.  The  capitals  of  the 
second  story  resemble  those  of  S.  Vitale  at  Ravenna. 


PALAZZO  FARSETTI,  P.  GRIM  ANT.  77 

"  This  palace,  though  not  conspicuous,  and  often  passed  with  neglect, 
will  be  felt  at  last,  by  all  who  examine  it  carefully,  to  be  the  most  beau- 
tiful  palace  in  the  whole  extent  of  the  Grand  Canal.  It  has  been 
restored  often,  once  in  the  Gothic,  once  in  the  Renaissance  times, — some 
writers  say,  even  rebuilt ;  but,  if  so,  rebuilt  in  its  old  form.  The 
Gothic  additions  harmonize  exquisitely  with  its  Byzantine  work,  and  it 
is  easy,  as  we  examine  its  lovely  central  arcade,  to  forget  the  Renais- 
sance additions  which  encumber  it  above." — Ruskin. 

Here  from  1363  to  1366,  lived  Peter  V.  Lusignan,  King 
of  Cyprus,  as  the  guest  of  Federigo  Corner  Piscopia.  His 
arms  are  over  some  of  the  windows.  Here  the  learned 
Elena  Cornaro  Piscopia  was  bom. 

Passing  the  Traghetto  di  S.  Luca,  we  reach  Palazzo  Far- 
setti  (once  Dandolo,  now  Municipio).  In  the  latest  years 
of  the  Republic  an  academy  was  established  here,  in  which 
the  sculptor  Canova  received  his  first  education.  The  front  is 
modernized  and  exceedingly  rich,  but  the  ground  floor  and 
first  floor  have  nearly  all  their  shafts  and  capitals  from  an 
original  building  of  the  12  th  century,  only  they  have  been 
much  shifted  from  their  original  positions.  The  adjoining 
Palazzo  Grimani  (now  the  post-office),  is  a  noble  work  of 
Sanmichele. 

*'  San  Micheli's  masterpiece  is  the  design  of  the  Grimani  Palace.  It 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  quite  finished  at  his  death,  in  1542,  but 
substantially  it  is  his,  and,  though  not  so  pleasing  as  some  of  the  earlier 
palaces,  is  a  stately  and  appropriate  building.  The  proportions  of  the 
whole  fa9ade  are  good,  and  its  dimensions  (92  ft.  wide  by  98  in  height) 
give  it  a  dignity  which  renders  it  one  of  the  most  striking  facades  on 
the  Grand  Canal,  while  the  judgment  displayed  in  the  design  elevates 
it  into  being  one  of  the  best  buildings  of  the  age  in  which  it  was  erected. " 
— Fergus  son. 

The  Palazzo  Cavalli  is  of  the  15  th,  the  Palazzo  Marti- 
tiengo  of  the  i6th  century.  The  Palazzo  Benzon  is  only 
interesting  as  having  been  the  residence  of  Byron,  Moore, 


78  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Canova,  and  others.  The  Palazzo  Comer- Spinelli  is  a 
beautiful  Renaissance  building,  by  Pietro  Lo?nbardo,  c.  1500. 
The  balconies  are  exquisitely  decorated.  Portions  of  the 
interior  are  by  Sanmichele. 

The  Palazzo  Mocenigo  (1520 — 1524)  is  exceedingly  rich. 

The   Palazzo   Contarini    is    of    15 14 — 1546,   and    very 

beautiful. 

"  In  the  intervals  of  the  windows  of  the  first  story,  certain  shields  and 
torches  are  attached,  in  the  form  of  trophies,  to  the  stems  of  two  trees 
whose  boughs  have  been  cut  off,  and  only  one  or  two  of  their  faded 
leaves  left,  scarcely  observable,  but  delicately  sculptured  here  and  there, 
beneath  the  insertions  of  the  severed  boughs.  It  is  as  if  the  workman 
had  intended  to  leave  us  an  image  of  the  expiring  naturalism  of  the 
Gothic  school." — Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  iii. 

The  Palazzo  Moro-Lin,  by  the  Florentine  Seb  Mazzont, 
has  a  facade  of  the  four  orders  of  classic  architecture.  It 
contains  frescoes  by  Lazzarini.  This  palace  first  belonged 
to  the  family  of  Lin,  on  whose  extinction  it  passed  to  that  of 
Moro,  of  whom  was  Doge  Cristoforo  Moro,  by  some  believed 
to  have  been  the  original  of  Othello. 

The  Palazzo  Grasst,  by  Giorgio  Massari,  only  dates  from 
the  last  century.  The  Grassi  family  came  from  Chioggia  in 
1 7 1 8,  and  bought  their  nobility. 

The  Palazzo  Giustiniani  Lonin  was  built  in  the  17th 
century  by  Baldassare  Longhetia.  The  family  claim  descent 
from  the  emperor  Justinian.  They  were  settled  in  Venice 
from  the  earliest  period  of  its  history.  All  the  males  of  the 
house  were  killed  in  battle  against  Emanuel  Comnenus, 
except  one,  who  was  a  monk,  and  who  was  released  from  his 
vows  for  a  year  by  the  Pope,  in  order  to  refound  the  family. 
He  married  the  daughter  of  Doge  Vitale,  became  father  of 
the  direct  ancestor  of  the  present  Prince  Giustiniani,  and 
re-entered  his  convent 


PALAZZO  CONTARim  FASAN.  79 

Passing  the  iron  bridge  we  reach  the  Campo  S.  Vidal. 
Th-e  Church  of  S.  Vitale  contains  a  picture  of  the  patron 
saint  on  horseback  by  Vittore  Carpaccio,  15 14. 

The  Palazzo  Cavalli,  the  property  of  the  Due  de  Bordeaux, 
is  of  the  15th  century.  The  family  were  founded  here  by 
Giacomo  CavalH,  who  came  from  Verona  and  defended 
Venice  against  the  Genoese  in  1380. 

The  Palazzo  Corner  della  Cd  Grande  is  a  noble  work  of 
'J^acopo  Sansovino  of  1532,  with  a  beautiful  courtyard,  in  the 
centre  of  which  is  a  fountain  with  a  statue,  by  Francesco 
Penso.  Caterina  Cornaro,  Queen  of  Cyprus,  belonged  to 
this  family. 

Passing  Palazzo  Fini,  and  Casa  Ferro,  with  a  beautiful 
four-sided  pergola  of  the  14th  century,  we  reach  one  of  the 
most  exquisite  of  the  small  Gothic  buildings,  the  Palazzo 
Contarini  Fasan  (often  shewn  as  the  House  of  Desdemona), 
with  corded  edges,  and  balconies  of  surpassing  richness  sup- 
ported on  richly  sculptured  corbels. 

The  Palazzo  Emo,  or  Treves,  is  of  1680.  It  contains  a 
beautiful  staircase,  a  ceiling  telling  the  story  of  Psyche,  by 
Giovanni  Demiti,  and  colossal  statues  of  Hector  and  Ajax 
by  Canova. 

The  Palazzo  Giustijiiani,  now  Hotel  Europa,  is  of  the 
15th  century. 

We  now  reach  the  gardens  of  the  Royal  Palace,  and  the 
opening  to  the  lagoon,  opposite  S.  Giorgio. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

SOUTH-EASTERN  VENICE. 

In  a  Gondola  to — 

S.  Zaccaria  ;  S.  Giorgio  dei  Greci ;  S .  Antonino  ;  Palazzo  Grimani  ; 
S.  Maria  Formosa ;  Ponte  del  Paradiso ;  SS.  Giovanni  e  Paolo  ;  S. 
Lazzaro  ;  S.  Francesco  della  Vigna  ;  S.  Pietro  di  Castello  ;  S.  Giuseppe 
di  Castello ;  Giardini  Publici ;  S.  Biagio.  The  Arsenal ;  S.  Gio- 
vanni in  Bragora. 

Those  who  wish  to  select,  should  leave  their  gondola  for  S.  Zaccaria, 
the  pictures  in  S.  Maria  Formosa,  SS.  Giovanni  e  Paolo,  and  the 
Arsenal. 


A  LITTLE  archway  on  the  left  of  the  Hotel  d'Angleterre 
leads  from  the  Riva  degli  Schiavoni  to  the  beautiful 
Church  of  S.  Zaccaria,  built  by  An f onto  di  Marco,  1457 — 1477. 
The  fa9ade  is  by  another  unknown  architect,  1477 — 1490. 
The  statue  of  S.  Zaccaria  over  the  principal  entrance  is  by 
Alessandro  Vittaria.     The  tower  is  of  the  12  th  century. 

*'  One  of  the  finest  of  tlie  early  facades  of  Italy  is  that  of  San  Zaccaria 
at  Venice.  The  church  was  commenced  in  1446,  and  internally  shows 
pointed  arches  and  other  peculiarities  of  that  date.  The  fa(,'ade  seems 
to  have  been  completed  about  15 15,  and  though  not  so  splendid  as  that 
of  the  Certosa  at  Pavia,  and  some  of  the  more  elaborate  designs  of  the 
previous  century,  it  is  not  only  purer  in  detail,  but  reproduces  more  cor- 
rectly the  internal  arrangements  of  the  church.  Though  its  dimensions 
are  not  greater  than  those  of  an  ordinary  Palladian  front,  the  number 
and  smallness  of  the  parts  make  it  appear  infinitely  larger,  and,  all  the 
classical  details  being  merely  subordinate  ornaments,  there  is  no  false- 
hood or  incongruity  anywhere  ;  while,  the  practical  constructive  lines 
being  preserved,  the  whole  has  a  unity  and  dignity  we  miss  so  generally 


S.  Z AC C ARIA,  PALAZZO  TREVISAN.  8i 

in  subsequent  buildings.  Its  greatest  defect  is  perhaps  the  circular  form 
given  to  the  pediment  of  the  central  and  side  aisles,  which  does  not  in 
this  instance  express  the  form  of  the  roof." — Fergusson. 

The  interior  is  semi- Byzantine  in  the  nave,  and  Gothic  in 
the  choir.  The  side  aisles,  which  are  divided  from  the  nave 
by  very  slender  columns,  are  exceedingly  lofty. 

Right  Aisle.  Over  the  2nd  Altar  is  the  monument  of  Marco  Sanudo, 
1505,  by  Leopardi. 

From  the  '})rd  arch  is  the  entrance  of  the  monastic  choir,  with  tarsia 
work  of  Francesco  and  Marco  da  Vlcenza,  1464.     Here  also  are : 

Raima  Vecchio.   Madonna  and  Saints. 

Tintoretto.     Birth  of  the  Baptist. 

The  Cappella  di  S.  Tarazlo  (locked)  contains  curious  15th-century 
altars.  The  tabernacle  over  the  central  altar  is  by  Ludovico  da  Friuli : 
those  at  the  sides  by  Antonio  and  Giovanni  da  Murano,  1443.  Be- 
neath this  chapel  is  a  crypt,  which  is  part  of  the  ancient  church  in  which 
the  eight  Doges  who  ruled  from  836  to  1 1 72  were  buried. 

In  the  '^rd  Choir  Chapel  is  : — 

Giovattni  Bellini.     The  Circumcision. 

*Left  Aisle,  2nd  Altar.  Giovanni  Bellini.  The  Virgin  and  Child, 
with  SS.  Peter,  Jerome,  Catherine,  and  Lucy, — a  glorious  picture. 

Near  the  door  into  the  sacristy  is  the  monument  of  Alessandro  Vit- 
toria,  1608,  probably  designed  by  himself. 

There  is  a  beautiful  early  Gothic  gateway  at  the  further 
entrance  of  the  Campo  S.  Zaccaria^,  with  a  relief,  by  the 
Massegne,  of  the  Virgin  between  two  saints.  Passing 
through  this,  in  the  direction  of  S.  Marco,  in  the  Canonka, 
near  the  palace  of  the  Patriarch,  is  the  Palazzo  Trevisan,  of 
the  1 6th  century,  by  Guglielmo  Bergamesco.  In  1577,  this 
palace  was  sold  by  Domenico  Trevisan  to  the  famous 
Bianca  Capello,  who  purchased  it  for  her  brother  Vittore. 
It  was  afterwards  for  some  time  called  the  Palazzo  Capello. 

"  In  the  inlaid  design  of  the  dove  with  the  olive  branch,  in  the  Casa 
Trevisan,  it  is  impossible  for  anything  to  go  beyond  the  precision  with 
which  the  olive  leaves  are  cut  out  of  the  white  marble  ;  and,  in  some 
VOL.    II.  6 


82  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

wreaths  of  laurel  below,  the  rippled  edge  of  each  leaf  is  finely  and 
easily  drawn,  as  if  by  a  delicate  pencil.  No  Florentine  table  is  more 
exquisitely  finished  than  the  facade  of  this  entire  palace  ;  and  as  an  ideal 
of  executive  perfection,  this  palace  is  most  notable  amidst  the  archi- 
tecture of  Europe." — Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  iii. 

Returning  to  the  Schiavoni,  and  taking  the  first  side 
canal  on  the  left,  we  reach  the  Church  of  S.  Giorgio  dei 
Greci,  built  by  Sante  Lombardo  and  Gian  Antonio  Chionia, 
1539 — 1570.  The  dome  was  added  in  1571  by  Maestro 
Andrea;  the  beautiful  ca.mpa.ni\e  by  Bernardino  Angarin,  1587 
— 1592.  The  west  front  and  the  interior  are  decorated  with 
Greek  mosaics.  Three  Gospels  of  the  loth  century,  and  a 
Ravenna  papyrus  of  553,  are  preserved  here,  A  few  steps 
(on  foot),  behind  this  church,  is  S.  Antonino,  where  Alvise 
Tiepolo  is  buried  in  a  tomb  by  Alessandro  Vittoria,  1590. 

The  Palazzo  Bembo,  in  the  Calle  Magno  near  this,  has  a 
beautiful  open-air  staircase  in  its  courtyard. 

The  gondola  quickly  takes  us  from  S.  Giorgio  to  the 
Palazzo  Grimani,  of  the  i6th  century.  In  its  court  is  a 
noble  colossal  statue  of  M.  Agrippa,  brought  from  the 
Pantheon  at  Rome. 

Close  by,  are  the  Campo  and  Church  of  S.  Maria  For- 
mosa. The  latter  was  built  by  Marco  Bergamesco,  1492, 
but  has  been  added  to  at  later  times.  It  contains  one 
glorious  picture — 

*  Right  Aisle,  1st  Altar.  Palma  Vecchio.  S.  Barbara — being  a  por- 
trait of  the  painter's  daughter,  Violante,  beloved  by  Titian. 

"  She  is  standing  in  a  majestic  attitude,  looking  upwards  with  inspired 
eyes,  and  an  expression  like  a  Pallas.  She  wears  a  tunic  or  rc5be  of  a 
rich  warm  brown,  with  a  mantle  of  crimson  ;  and  a  white  veil  is  twisted 
in  her  diadem  and  among  the  tresses  of  her  pale  golden  hair  :  the 
whole  picture  is  one  glow  of  colour,  life,  and  beauty ;  I  never  saw  a 
combination  of  expression  and  colour  at  once  so  soft,  so  sober,  and  so 
splendid.     Cannon  are  at  her  feet,  and  her  tower  is  seen  behind.     Be- 


5.  MARIA  FORMOSA.  83 

neath,  in  front  of  the  altar,  is  a  marble  bas-relief  of  her  martyrdom  ; 
she  lies  headless  on  the  ground,  and  fire  from  heaven  destroys  the  execu- 
tioners."— yameson^s  Sacred  Art,  ii.  495. 

"  The  head  is  of  a  truly  typical  Venetian  beauty,  the  whole  is  finished 
with  the  greatest  power  and  knowledge  of  colour  and  modelling." — 
Burckhardt. 

The  picture  was  painted  for  the  Bombardieri.  S.  Barbara  was  the 
patroness  of  soldiers,  who  come  hither  to  adore  her  shrine.  At  its  sides 
are  SS.  Anthony  and  Sebastian,  SS.  J.  Baptist  and  Dominic  :  above  is 
the  Madonna  bending  over  the  dead  Christ. 

2nd  Altar.  Bart.  Vivarini,  1473.  A  Madonna  (sheltering  the  faith- 
ful under  her  robe) — with  Joachim  and  Anna  and  the  Birth  of  the 
Virgin. 

Right  Transept.  Leandro  Bassano.     The  Last  Supper. 

In  this  church  the  annual  "  Festa  delle  Marie "  com- 
memorating the  safe  return  of  the  brides  carried  off  with 
their  arcelle  (coffers  containing  their  dowries),  was  held  till 
the  time  of  the  Republic.  The  doge  and  signory  were 
received  at  the  door  by  the  priests  of  the  church,  who 
offered,  in  the  name  of  the  parishioners,  hats  of  straw, 
flacons  of  wine,  and  oranges. 

One  of  the  houses  in  the  Cavipo  S.  Maria  Formosa  has  an 
interesting  example  of  a  cross  let  in,  above  a  window. 

To  the  left  of  the  west  front  of  the  church  is  a  beautiful 
Gothic  canopy  of  the  14th  century,  over  the  entrance  to  a 
bridge  called  Ponte  del  Paradiso.  It  is  a  lovely  remnant, 
and  leads  into  a  street  called  Via  del  Paradiso,  so  curiously 
narrow  that  one  is  inevitably  reminded  of  "  Strait  is  the 
gate  and  narrow  is  the  way  that  leadeth  unto  life,  and  few 
there  be  that  find  it"  (Matt.  vii.  15). 

"  This  archway,  appropriately  placed  hard  by  the  bridge  called  '  del 
Paradiso,'  is  one  of  the  most  exquisite  little  pieces  ot  detail  in  the  whole 
city.  The  main  points  to  be  noted  are  the  characteristic  flatness  of  the 
details,  and  the  line  of  dentil-moulding,  which  defines  all  the  leading 
architectural  features,  originally  invented  for  borders  of  incrustations  at 


84  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

S.  Mark's,  and  here,  as  everywhere  in  Venice,  used  for  decoration  after- 
wards. The  incrusted  circles  of  marble  on  each  side  of  the  figure  give 
great  life  to  the  spandrel  beneath  the  arch.  The  windows  close  by  shew 
us  a  late  example  of  the  not  unfrequent  use  of  the  semi-circular  and  ogee 
arches  together  in  the  same  window." — Street. 

A  few  strokes  of  the  gondolier  now  bring  us  to  the  pic- 
turesque group  formed  by  the  west  front  of  SS.  Giovanni 
and  Paolo,  the  Scuola  di  S.  Marco,  and  the  statue  of  the 
famous  condottiere,  Bartolomeo  CoUeoni,  who  has  already 
become  familiar  to  us  at  Bergamo.  He  left  all  his  fortune 
to  the  Republic,  on  condition  of  his  statue  being  placed  in 
the  Piazza  S.  Marco.  This  was  contrary  to  the  laws,  but 
the  senate  found  a  loophole  for  securing  the  inheritance  by 
placing  it  in  front  of  the  Scuola  di  San  Marco.  The  noble 
equestrian  statue  was  designed  by  Andrea  Verocchio  (An- 
drew the  keen-eyed),  but  completed  by  Alessandro  Leopardi. 
The  figure  looks  as  if  it  were  riding  into  space. 

*'  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  a  more  glorious  work  of  sculpture 
existing  in  the  world  than  the  equestrian  statue  of  Bartolomeo  Colleoni." 
Ruskin. 

"  To  make  the  statue  Verocchio  came  to  Venice,  and  had  just  model- 
led the  horse,  when  a  report  reached  him  that  the  Signory  intended  to 
have  the  rider  executed  by  Donatello's  scholar,  Vellano  of  Padua.  In- 
dignant at  this  intended  insult,  he  instantly  broke  the  head  and  legs  of 
the  horse  in  pieces,  and  returned  to  Florence,  whither  he  was  followed 
by  a  decree  forbidding  him  under  pain  of  death  again  to  set  foot  upon 
Venetian  territory  ;  to  which  he  replied,  that  he  never  would  incur  that 
risk,  as  he  was  aware  that  if  his  head  were  once  cut  off,  the  Signory 
could  neither  put  it  on  again  nor  supply  its  place,  while  he  could  at  any 
time  replace  the  head  of  his  horse  by  a  better  one.  Feeling  the  truth  of 
this  answer,  the  Venetians  rescinded  their  unjust  edict,  and  not  only  in- 
vited Verocchio  to  resume  his  work,  but  doubled  his  pay,  and  pledged 
themselves  not  to  allow  him  to  be  in  any  way  interfered  with.  Pacified 
by  this  'amende  honorable,'  he  returned  to  Venice,  and  had  begun  to 
restore  his  broken  model,  when  he  was  attacked  by  a  violent  illness 
which  speedily  carried  him  to  his  grave.  How  much,  or  rather  how 
little,  of  his  task  was  then  completed,  is  clearly  shown  by  the  passage  of 


SS.   GIOVANNI  E  PAOLO.  8$; 

his  Will  in  which  he  supplicates  the  Signory  to  allow  his  scholar,  Lorenzo 
di  Credi,  to  finish  the  horse  which  he  had  commenced.  His  request  was 
not  complied  with,  and  Alessandro  Leopardi,  a  Venetian  sculptor,  was 
employed  to  complete  the  group,  but,  as  he  doubtless  used  Verocchio's 
sketches,  the  general  conception  must  be  ascribed  to  the  latter ;  though 
as  we  look  upon  this  rich  and  picturesque  group,  whose  ample  forms  are 
so  opposed  to  the  meagreness  of  the  Tuscan  sculptor's  manner,  we  are 
led  to  conclude  that  Leopardi  worked  out  Verocchio's  idea  according  to 
his  own  taste,  and  honour  him  as  the  chief  author  of  this,  the  finest 
modem  equestrian  statue,  as  did  the  Venetians,  by  giving  him  the  sur- 
name 'del  Cavallo.' 

"  The  stalwart  figure  of  CoUeoni,  clad  in  armour,  with  a  helmet  upon 
hifi  head,  is  the  most  perfect  embodiment  of  the  idea  which  history  gives 
us  of  an  Italian  Condottiere.  As  his  horse,  with  arched  neck  and  slightly 
bent  head,  paces  slowly  forward,  he,  sitting  straight  in  his  saddle,  turns 
to  look  over  his  left  shoulder,  showing  us  a  sternly-marked  countenance, 
with  deep-set  eyes,  whose  intensity  of  expression  reveals  a  character  of 
iron  which  never  recoiled  before  any  obstacle.  It  indeed  admirably 
embodies  the  graphic  picture  of  Colleoni's  personal  appearance,  given  by 
Bartolomeo  Spina  in  these  words  :  '  Saldo  passo,  vista  superba,  risplen- 
dente  per  le  ricche  armi  e  pennachi  sopra  nobil  corsiere — occhi  neri — 
nella  guardatura  ed  accutezza  del  lume,  vivi,  penetrantie  terribili.'  The 
stern  simplicity  of  the  rider  is  happily  set  off  by  the  richness  of  detail 
lavished  upon  the  saddle,  the  breast-plate,  the  crupper,  and  the  knotted 
mane  of  his  steed ;  and  the  effect  of  the  whole  group  is  heightened  by 
the  very  elegant  pedestal  upon  which  Leopardi  has  placed  it." — Perkin's 
Tuscan  Sculptors. 

The  grand  Church  of  SS.  Giovanni  and  Paolo  (in  Vene- 
tian dialect  S.  Zanipolo)  was  built  for  Dominicans ;  begun 
in  1234,  but  not  consecrated  till  1430.  It  is  a  Latin  Cross, 
with  three  aisles  in  the  nave.  It  is  290  ft.  long,  125  ft. 
broad  at  the  transepts,  and  108  ft.  high  in  the  centre  and 
choir.  The  central  door  is  good  13th-century  Gothic. 
There  are  some  curious  reliefs  let  into  the  facade ;  Daniel 
in  the  Lion's  Den  of  the  8th,  and  the  Annunciation  of  the 
7th  century.  Hither  every  7th  October  the  Doge  came  to 
a  state  service  in  honour  of  the  victory  of  Venice  over  the 
Turks,  and  here  the  Doges  lay  in  state  and  their  funeral 


86  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

services  were  held.     The  church  is  full  of  their  monuments. 

"The  foundation  of  this  church  was  laid  by  the  Dominicans  about 
1234,  under  the  immediate  protection  of  the  Senate  and  the  Doge  Gia- 
como  Tiepolo,  accorded  to  them  in  consequence  of  a  miraculous  vision 
appearing  to  the  Doge;  of  which  the  following  account  is  given  in 
popular  tradition. 

"In  the  year  1226,  the  Doge  Giacomo  Tiepolo  dreamed  a  dream  ; 
and  in  his  dream  he  saw  the  little  oratory  of  the  Dominicans,  and, 
oehold,  all  the  ground  around  it  (now  occupied  by  the  church)  was 
covered  with  roses  of  the  colour  of  vermilion,  and  the  air  was  filled  with 
their  fragrance.  And  in  the  midst  of  the  roses,  there  were  seen  flying 
to  and  fro  a  crowd  of  white  doves,  with  golden  crosses  upon  their  heads. 
And  while  the  Doge  looked,  and  wondered,  behold,  the  angels  descended 
from  heaven  with  golden  censers,  and  passing  through  the  oratory,  and 
forth  among  the  flowers,  they  filled  the  place  with  the  smoke  of  their 
incense.  Then  the  Doge  heard  suddenly  a  clear  and  loud  voice  which 
proclaimed,  '  This  is  the  place  that  I  have  chosen  for  my  preachers  ! ' 
and  having  heard  it,  straightway  he  awoke,  and  went  to  the  Senate,  and 
declared  to  them  the  vision.  Then  the  Senate  decided  that  forty 
paces  of  ground  should  be  given  to  enlarge  the  monastery ;  and  the 
Doge  Tiepolo  himself  made  a  still  larger  grant  afterwards." — Ruskin, 
Stones  of  Venice,  iii. 

"  The  plan  of  this  church  is  of  the  same  sort  as  that  of  the  Frari — a 
nave  with  aisles,  and  transepts  with  two  chapels  opening  on  each  side 
of  them.  These  are  all  apsidal,  but  planned  in  the  usual  way  and  not 
as  at  the  Frari.  The  east  end  is  a  fine  composition,  having  an  apse  of 
seven  sides,  and  is  the  only  part  of  the  exterior  to  which  much  praise 
can  be  given.  It  is  divided  into  two  stages  by  an  elaborate  brick  cor- 
nice and  a  good  balustraded  passage  in  front  of  the  upper  windows. 
The  traceries  are  all  unskilfully  designed,  and  set  back  from  the  face  of 
the  wall  with  a  bald  plain  splay  of  brickwork  round  them  ;  the  lower 
windows  here  have  two  transomes  and  the  upper  a  single  band  of  heavy 
tracery  which  performs  the  part  of  a  transome  in  an  ungainly  fashion, 
though  not  so  badly  as  in  the  great  south-transept  window  in  the  same 
church.  Here,  just  as  at  the  Frari,  it  is  obvious  that  the  absence  of 
buttresses  to  these  many-sided  apses  is  the  secret  of  the  largeness  and 
breadth  which  mark  them  ;  and,  to  say  the  truth,  not  only  are  large 
buttresses  to  an  apse  often  detrimental  to  its  effect,  but  at  the  same  time 
they  are  very  often  not  wanted  for  strength." — Street. 

Making  the  round  of  the  church  from  the  west  end,  be- 
ginning on  the  right,  we  see  : 


55    GIOVANNI  E  PAOLO.  87 

The  tomb  of  Doge  Pietro  Mocenigo,  with  fifteen  allegorical  figures, 
by  Pietro  Lonibardo  and  his  sons  Tullio  and  Antonio,  1477 — 1488. 

The  tomb  of  Admiral  Gir.  Canal,  1535.  Under  this  is  a  relief  of 
Christ  throned  between  two  angels.  The  grave-stone  of  Doge  Ranieri 
Zen,  1268. 

Right  Aisle.  Over  the  First  Altar  was  the  famous  picture  by  Bellini 
burnt  in  1867.  Then  comes  the  black  pyramidal  tomb  of  the  painter 
Melchior  Lancia,  1673,  then  the  tomb  to  Marc  Antonio  Bragadin,  1596. 

"  The  defence  of  Famagosta,  the  principal  city  of  Cyprus,  was  one  of 
the  most  heroic  exploits  of  the  age  :  the  combined  conduct  and  valour 
of  the  Venetian  governor,  Bragadino,  were  the  theme  of  universal  praise  ; 
honourable  terms  were  to  be  granted  to  the  garrison  ;  and  when  he 
notified  his  intention  to  be  in  person  the  bearer  of  the  keys,  the  Turkish 
commander  replied  in  the  most  courteous  and  complimentary  terms,  that 
he  should  feel  honoured  and  gratified  by  receiving  him.  Bragadino 
came,  attended  by  the  officers  of  his  staff,  dressed  in  his  purple  robes, 
and  with  a  red  umbrella,  the  sign  of  his  rank,  held  over  him.  In  the 
course  of  the  ensuing  interview  the  Pasha  suddenly  springing  up,  accused 
him  of  having  put  some  Mussulman  prisoners  to  death  ;  the  officers 
were  dragged  away  and  cut  to  pieces,  whilst  Bragadino  was  reserved  for 
the  worst  outrages  that  vindictive  cruelty  could  inflict.  He  was  thrice 
made  to  bare  his  neck  to  the  executioners,  whose  sword  was  thrice  lifted 
as  if  about  to  strike  :  his  ears  were  cut  off  :  he  was  driven  every  morning 
for  ten  days,  heavy  laden  with  baskets  of  earth,  to  the  batteries,  and 
compelled  to  kiss  the  ground  before  the  Pasha's  pavilion  as  he  passed. 
He  was  hoisted  to  the  yard-arm  of  one  of  the  ships  and  exposed  to 
the  derision  of  the  sailors.  Finally,  he  was  carried  to  the  square  of 
Famagosta,  stripped,  chained  to  a  stake  on  the  public  scaffold,  and 
slowly  flayed  alive,  while  the  Pasha  looked  on.  His  skin,  stuffed  with 
straw,  was  then  mounted  on  a  cow,  paraded  through  the  streets  with 
the  red  umbrella  over  it,  suspended  at  the  bowsprit  of  the  admiral's 
galley,  and  displayed  as  a  trophy  during  the  whole  voyage  to  Con- 
stantinople. The  skin  was  afterwards  purchased  of  the  Pasha  by 
the  family  of  Bragadino,  and  deposited  in  an  urn  in  the  church  of  SS. 
Giovanni  e  Paolo." — Quarterly  Revie^u,  No.  274. 

Second  Altar.  A  picture  in  many  compartments,  probably  by  V, 
Carpaccio. 

Over  the  following  doors,  the  immense  Tombs  of  the  Doges  Silvestro 
and  Bertuccio  Valier,  and  the  wife  of  Silvestro,  by  Tirali,  1708. 

"  Towering  from  the  pavement  to  the  vaulting  of  the  church,  behold 
a  mass  of  marble,  sixty  or  seventy  feet  in  height,  of  mingled  yellow  and 
white,  the  yellow  carved  into  the  form  of  an  enormous  curtain,  with 


88  ■  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

ropes,  fringes,  and  tassels,  sustained  by  cherubs  ;  in  front  of  which,  in 
the  now  usual  stage  attitudes,  advance  the  statues  of  the  Doge  Bertuccio 
Valier,  his  son, the  Doge  Silvester  Valier,  and  his  son's  wife,  Elizabeth. 
The  statues  of  the  Doges,  though  mean  and  Polonius-like,  are  partly 
redeemed  by  the  ducal  robes  ;  but  that  of  the  Dogaressa  is  a  consum- 
mation of  grossness,  vanity,  and  ugliness, — the  figure  of  a  large  and 
wrinkled  woman,  with  elaborate  curls  in  stiff  projection  round  her  face, 
covered  from  her  shoulders  to  her  feet  with  ruffs,  furs,  lace,  jewels,  and 
embroidery.  Beneath  and  around  are  scattered  Virtues,  Victories, 
Fames,  Genii, — the  entire  company  of  the  monumental  stage  assembled, 
as  before  a  drop  scene, — executed  by  various  sculptors,  and  deserving 
attentive  study  as  exhibiting  every  condition  of  false  taste  and  feeble 
conception.  The  Victory  in  the  centre  is  peculiarly  interesting  ;  the 
lion  by  which  she  is  accompanied,  springing  on  a  dragon,  has  been  in- 
tended to  look  terrible,  but  the  incapable  sculptor  could  not  conceive 
any  form  of  dreadfulness,  could  not  even  make  the  lion  look  angry.  It 
looks  only  lacrymose  ;  and  its  lifted  forepaws,  there  being  no  spring  nor 
motion  in  its  body,  give  it  the  appearance  of  a  dog  begging.  The  in- 
scription under  the  two  statues  are  as  follows  : — 

"  Bertucius  Valier,  Duke,  Great  in  wisdom  and  eloquence,  Greater 
in  his  Hellespontic  victory.  Greatest  in  the  Prince  his  son.  Died,  1658. 

"  Elizabeth  Quirina,  the  wife  of  Silvester,  Distinguished  by  Roman 
virtue.  By  Venetian  piety,  And  by  the  Ducal  Crown,  Died,  1708." — 
Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  iii. 

In  the  Chapel  which  opens  beneath  this  monument  (left)  is  a  picture 
of  S.  Hyacinth  by  Leandro  Bassano. 

The  Chapel  of  S.  Domenic  is  covered  with  rich  bronze  decorations  by 
Camillo  Alazza. 

Right  Transept  (on  the  wall).  S.  Augustine,  by  Bart.  Vivarini, 
1473.  Tomb  of  Nicolo  Orsini,  1509,  who  commanded  the  armies  of 
the  Republic  in  the  war  against  the  league  before  Cambray — a  golden 
warrior  on  a  horse. 

Altar  with  S.  Antonino,  by  Lorenzo  Lotto. 

Over  the  door.  Monument  of  General  Dionigi  Naldo,  by  Lorenzo 
Bregno,  1510 — a  standing  figure. 

Stained  glass  by  Girolamo  Mocetto,  from  designs  of  Vivarini,  1473. 

Altar.     Rocco  Marconi.     Christ  between  SS.  Andrew  and  Peter. 

"  This  is  one  of  the  best  pictures  of  the  school,  with  most  beautiful  mild 
heads,  especially  that  of  Christ,  which  resembles  the  Christ  of  Bellini. 
S.  Peter's  attitude  expresses  the  deepest  devotion.  Above  him,  is  a 
choir  of  angels  making  music." — Burckhardt. 


SS.   GIOVANNI  E  PAOLO.  89 

I H  Chapel,  East  End.     Bonifazio.     Three  Saints. 

Altar  by  Alessandro  Vittoria,  with  a  crucifix  by  Cavrioli. 

(Right).     Tomb  of  Paolo  Loredan,  1365. 

2nd  Chapel.  Cappella  delta  Maddalena  {right).  Monument  of  Matteo 
Giustiniani,  1574.  Over  the  altar  a  statue  of  the  Magdalen,  by  Gugl. 
Bergamesco. 

{Left).  Monument  of  Marco  Giustiniani,  1347,  and  over  it  a  Ma- 
donna with  kneeling  Senators,  by  J.  Tintoretto.  On  a  pillar,  a  pulpit 
of  1 5 10. 

Apse  {right  of  High  Altar).  The  beautiful  Gothic  tomb  of  Doge 
Michele  Morosini,  1382.  Morosini  only  reigned  for  four  months,  but 
they  were  rendered  remarkable  by  the  capture  of  Tenedos. 

The  tomb  of  Doge  Leonardo  Loredan,  by  Grapiglia,  1572 — the  statue 
of  the  Doge  is  by  Campagna. 

{Left).  The  tomb  of  Doge  Andrea  Vendramin,  1478,  probably  by 
Tullio  Lonibardo.  The  surrounding  statuettes  are  of  great  beauty. 
Much  praise  has  also  been  bestowed  upon  the  figure  of  the  Doge,  but 
spectators  are  not  generally  aware  that  the  effigy  has  only  one  side,  that 
turned  to  the  beholder. 

"  This  doge  died,  after  a  short  reign  of  two  years,  the  most  disastrous 
in  the  annals  of  Venice.  He  died  of  a  pestilence  which  followed  the 
ravage  of  the  Turks,  carried  to  the  shores  of  the  lagoons.  He  died, 
leaving  Venice  disgraced  by  sea  and  land,  with  the  smoke  of  hostile 
devastation  rising  in  the  blue  distances  of  Friuli ;  and  there  was  raised 
to  him  the  most  costly  tomb  ever  bestowed  upon  her  monarchs.  .  .  . 
Who,  with  a  heart  in  his  breast,  could  have  stayed  his  hand,  as  he  drew 
the  dim  lines  of  the  old  man's  countenance, — could  have  stayed  his  hand 
as  he  reached  the  bend  of  the  grey  forehead,  and  measured  out  the  last 
veins  of  it,  at  so  much  the  zecchin  ? 

"...  This  lying  monument  to  a  dishonoured  doge,  this  culminating 
point  of  the  Renaissance  art  of  Venice,  is  at  least  veracious,  if  in  nothing 
else,  in  its  testimony  to  the  character  of  its  sculptor.  He  was  banished 
from  Venice  for  forgery  in  1487." — Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  ch.  i. 

Tomb  of  Doge  Marco  Corner,  with  saints  above,  of  beautiful  14th- 
century  Gothic  ;  probably  of  the  Massegne. 

Capella  delta  Trinity  {right).     Tomb  of  Pietro  Comer. 

^rd  Cfiapel  {right).     Leandro  Bassano.     A  Coronation  of  the  Virgin. 

{Left).  The  Monument  of  Andrea  Morosini,  1347. 

4/A  Chapel,  Cappella  di  S.  Pio  {right).    Tomb  of  Jacopo  Cavalli,  Com- 
mander of  the  Venetian  troops  in  the  famous  Chioggian  war,  by  Paolo 
di  Jacobello  delle  Massegne,  1394,  with  an  inscription  in  Venetian  dialect. 
"The  sarcophagus  is  heavily  but  richly  adorned  with  leaf-mouldings, 


90  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

and  with  roundels  containing  the  symbols  of  the  Evangelists  in  alto-re- 
lief. Upon  it  lies  the  effigy  of  the  brave  knight  clad  in  armour.  His 
face  is  very  much  sunken  in  his  helmet,  his  hands  are  crossed  upon  his 
breast,  his  head  rests  upon  a  lion,  and  his  feet  upon  a  dog,  fitting 
emblems  of  his  honour  and  fidelity. " — Perkin's  Italiatt  Sculptors. 

Tomb  of  Doge  Giovanni  Dolfin,  14th  century. 

"  The  sarcophagus  is  enriched  with  statuettes,  and  with  bas-reliefs  of 
the  doge  and  the  dogaressa  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  the  enthroned  Christ, 
the  Death  of  the  Virgin,  and  the  Epiphany,  and  has  an  elaborate  leaf- 
work  cornice  and  plinth." — Perkin's  Italian  Sculptors. 

Beneath  this  the  tomb  of  Marino  Caballo,  1572. 

Left  Transept.  Marble  group,  of  Vittore  Capello  (brother  of  Bianca) 
receiving  the  staff  of  command  from  S.  Helena,  by  Antonio  Dentone, 
1467. 

(Over  tlie  door).  Tomb  of  Doge  Antonio  Venier,  1400,  of  the  school 
of  the  Massegne.  Tiirough  this  door  was  the  entrance  to  the  Capella 
del  Rosario,  still  a  ruin  from  the  fire  of  August  1 6,  1 867,  in  which  the 
two  great  pictures  of  the  church  perished. 

Tomb  of  Agnese,  wife  of  Doge  Antonio  Venier,  and  of  their  daughter 
Orsola,  141 1. 

Tomb  of  Leonardo  da  Prato,  knight  of  Rhodes,  15 11. 

Left  Aisle.  Over  the  door  of  the  Sacristy  busts  of  Titian  and  the  two 
Palmas  by  J.  Alberelli.  Before  this  door  lie  the  bones  of  Palma  Gio- 
vane  (Giovanni  and  Gentile  Bellini  are  also  buried  in  this  church).  In 
the  Saeristy  are  a  Cross-bearing  of  Alvise  Vivarini,  and  a  Foundation 
of  the  Dominican  Order,  I^andro  Bassano. 

Tomb  of  Doge  Pasquale  Malipiero,  Florentine  work  of  the  15th 
century. 

Tomb  of  the  Senator  Bonzio,  1508.  Beneath  this  the  statue  of  S. 
Thomas,  by  Antonio  Lombardo,  and  S.  Peter  Martyr,  by  PcloIo  da 
Milano.  Tomb  of  Doge  Michele  Steno,  141 3,  and  that  of  Alvise  Tre- 
visan,  1528  (these  are  the  only  tombs  placed  sufficiently  low  for  careful 
examination). 

Monument  of  Pompeo  Giustiniani,  with  his  figure  on  horseback,  by 
Franc  Terilli,  1616.  Beneath  this,  the  epitaph  of  Doge  Giovanni  Dan- 
dolo,  1289. 

Monument  of  Doge  Tomaso  Mocenigo,  1424. 

"  The  tomb  of  this  Doge  is  wrought  by  a  Florentine  ;  but  it  is  of  the 
same  general  type  and  feeling  as  all  the  Venetian  tombs  of  that  period, 
and  it  is  one  of  the  last  which  retains  it.  The  classical  element  enters 
largely  into  its  details,  but  the  feeling  of  the  whole  is  as  yet  unaffected. 
Like  all  the  lovely  tombs  of  Venice  and  Verona,  it  is  a  sarcophagus 


SCUOLA  DI  S.  MARCO.  91 

with  a  recumbent  figure  above,  and  this  figure  is  a  faithful  but  tender 
portrait,  wrought  as  far  as  it  can  be  without  painfulness,  of  the  Doge  as 
he  lay  in  death.  He  wears  his  ducal  robe  and  bonnet — his  head  is  laid 
slightly  aside  upon  his  pillow  —his  hands  are  simply  crossed  as  they  fall. 
The  face  is  emaciated,  the  features  large,  but  so  pure  and  lordly  in  their 
natural  chiselling,  that  they  must  have  looked  like  marble  even  in  their 
animation.  They  are  deeply  worn  away  by  thought  and  death  ;  the 
veins  on  the  temples  branched  and  starting  ;  the  skin  gathered  in  sharp 
folds  ;  the  brow  high-arched  and  shaggy ;  the  eye-ball  magnificently 
large ;  the  curve  of  the  lips  just  veiled  by  the  slight  moustache  at  the 
side  ;  the  beard  short,  double,  and  sharp-pointed  :  all  noble  and  quiet ; 
the  white  sepulchral  dust  marking  like  light  the  stem  angles  of  the 
cheek  and  brow." — Raskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  ch.  i. 

Monument  of  Doge  Nicolo  Marcello,  1474,  a  grand  specimen  of  the 
Lombardi  style,  by  Aless.  Leopardi. 

Altar  of  the  Rosary.  A  copy  of  the  S.  Peter  Martyr  of  Titian,  which 
was  destroyed  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Rosario  on  the  morning  after  the 
festa  of  the  Assumption,  1867,  by  a  fire  probably  caused  by  the  smould- 
ering wax  candles  carelessly  put  away  in  the  chapel.  "  Painted  when 
Luther  was  at  his  zenith,  it  perished  in  the  days  of  Mazzini  and  Gari- 
baldi." 

Monument  of  Hor.  Baglioni,  161 7,  with  an  equestrian  figure. 

The  Last  Altar,  by  Guglielnio  Bergamesco,  1523,  has  a  statue  of  S. 
Jerome,  by  Aless.   Vittoria. 

Monument  of  Doge  Giovanni  Mocenigo,  1485,  by  Tullio  Lombardo.* 

Close  to  the  great  door.  Tomb  of  Doge  Alvise  Mocenigo,  1576  ;  and 
his  wife,  Loredana  Marcella.  Tomb  of  Doge  Giovanni  Bembo,  by  Girol. 
Grapiglia. 

Outside  the  church,  occupying  the  north  side  of  the 
Campo,  is  the  Scuola  di  S.  Marco,  a  beautiful  specimen  of 
the  pecuhar  architecture  of  the  Lombardi,  decorated  with 
coloured  marbles.  The  perspective  views  in  marble  are  very 
curious.  The  interior  is  now  used  as  a  hospital  :  it  has  two 
noble  halls.  Here  was  the  burial-place  of  the  Falier  family. 
When  the  sarcophagus  of  the  unhappy  Doge  Marino  Faliero 
was  opened,  his  body  was  found  with  the  head  between  his 
knees. 

♦  There  were  seven  Doges  of  the  Mocenigo  famil 


92  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

In  the  adjoining  Canipo  is  a  beautiful  well  of  the  i6th 
century.  Another,  perhaps  even  finer  specimen,  is  in  the 
adjoining  Corte  Bressana. 

Returning  to  our  gondola,  on  the  same  canal  (Rio  dei 
Mendicanti),  is  the  Church  of  S.  Lazaro  (the  Mendicanti 
saint).  Its  architect  was  Vine.  Scamozzt,  1601 — 1663.  It 
contains  the  tomb  of  Alvise  Mocenigo,  by  Giuseppe  Sardi. 

Entering  the  lagoon,  and  turning  to  the  right,  we  soon 
pass  near  the  great  Church  of  S.  Francesco  della  Vigna 
(entered  from  a  side  canal),  begun  in  1534,  but  not  finished 
till  1634.  It  was  built  at  the  expense  of  Doge  Andrea 
Gritti. 

The  exterior  is  by  Palladia  ;  the  interior,  which  was  com- 
pleted first,  by  Sansovino.    We  may  observe  : 

Right  Aisle,  1st  Altar.    Paul  Veronese.     The  Resurrection. 

Right  Transept,  Left  Chapel.     Fra  Antonio  da  Negroponte. 

"The  Madonna,  with  a  kindly  round  physiognomy,  in  a  mantle 
shining  with  gold,  and  with  a  nimbus  painted  in  relief,  is  seated  before 
a  luxuriant  rosebush,  upon  a  stone  throne  of  a  showy  Renaissance  style 
of  architecture,  with  genii  and  antique  decorations  in  relief.  Above  the 
throne  are  rich  pendants  of  fruit,  and  below,  a  flowery  meadow  with 
\ery  natural  birds.  She  is  adoring  the  Infant  who  lies  in  her  lap,  and 
who,  with  the  true  Paduan  feeling,  is  drawn  in  a  hard  and  sculp- 
turesque style.     Four  cherubs  in  gay  robes  are  standing  by." — Kugler. 

Over  door.     Tomb  of  Dom.  Trevisani  by  Sansovino. 

Left  of  Altar.  Giustiniani  Chapel  with  sculptures  of  the  15th  century. 
Tomb  of  Doge  Marc- Antonio  Giustiniani,  1688. 

Left  Transept.  Tomb  of  Marc- Antonio  Trevisani,  1554,  buried  in 
front  of  the  high  altar.  The  door  beneath  this  tomb  leads  to  the  Cap- 
pella  Santa  (so  called  from  a  miraculous  Madonna),  containing  a  picture 
of  the  Madonna  and  Saints  by  Giovanni  Bellini.  Here  is  the  entrance 
to  a  pretty  cloister. 

The  Sacristy  has  a  picture  of  SS.  Antonio,  Jerome,  and  Nicholas,  by 
Bernardino  di  Fiori. 

Over  the  Pulpit  is  Christ  with  God  the  Father,  by  Girolamo  Santa 
Croce. 

Left  Aisle,  1st  Chapel.    Paul  Veronese.    Virgin  and  Child  ;  S.  Antony 


S.  PIETRO  DI  CASTELLO.  93 

is  seen  below,  turning  towards  the  spectator,  his  bag  at  his  side;  a 
female  martyred  saint  seated  by  him  is  gazing  upwards. 

yd  Chapel.  Statue  of  Gerardo  Sagredo  and  Tomb  of  Doge  Nicol6 
Sagredo,  1743. 

i^h  Chapel.    Alessandro  Vittoria.    SS.  Antony,  Sebastian,  and  Roch. 

Following  the  lagoon  along  the  outer  wall  of  the  Arsenal 
so  often  painted  by  our  landscape  artists,  we  enter  the  broad 
Canale  di  S.  Pietro,  under  the  Island  of  S.  Pietro,  where  the 
Doges  were  elected  in  the  earliest  times  of  the  Republic. 
It  was  here  that  the  Rape  of  the  Venetian  brides  took  place, 
Feb.  2,  944 ;  they  were  carried  off  by  pirates,  and  were 
pursued  and  rescued  (according  to  Dam  and  Sismondi)  by 
an  armament  hastily  equipped  by  the  Doge  in  person. 

The  Church  of  S.  Pietro  di  Castello,  formerly  SS.  Sergius 
and  Bacchus,  is  of  very  ancient  foundation,  and  was  the  early 
cathedral  of  the  Republic.  The  church  was  entirely  rebuilt 
at  the  end  of  the  i6th  century,  and  presents  nothing  to 
admire  except  the  campanile,  which  is  remarkable  for  the 
long  architectural  lines  which  give  it  so  stately  an  effect. 
This  tower  "  is  one  which  has  forsaken  the  true  Roman- 
esque detail,  but  in  which  the  true  Romanesque  feeling  is 
not  lost." 

"  At  a  distance  il  has  thoroughly  the  air  of  a  third  ancient  campanile, 
the  compeer  of  the  island  basilicas  of  Murano  and  Torcello.  It  is  only 
on  coming  near  enough  to  study  the  details  that  one  can  discern  that  it 
is  really  a  work  of  the  revived  classical  style  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
So  thoroughly  has  the  architect  caught  the  spirit  of  a  type  of  which  he 
despised  the  detail,  and  so  slight  is  the  boundary  which  in  the  native 
land  of  both,  divides  the  style  which  continues  Roman  forms  by  un- 
broken tradition,  and  that  which  fell  back  upon  them  by  conscious 
imitation. " — Freeman. 

■'  It  is  credibly  reported  to  have  been  founded  in  the  seventh  century, 
and  (with  somewhat  less  of  credibility)  in  a  place  where  the  Trojans, 
conducted  by  Antenor,  had,  after  the  destruction  of  Troy,  built  'un 
castello,    chiamato  prima  Troja,  poscia  Olivolo,   interpretato,    luogo 


94  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

pieno.'  It  seems  that  S.  Peter  appeared  in  person  to  the  Bishop  of 
Heraclea,  and  commanded  him  to  found,  in  his  honour,  a  church  in  that 
spot  of  the  rising  city  on  the  Rialto.  The  title  of  Bishop  of  Castello 
was  first  taken  in  1091 ;  S.  Mark's  was  not  made  the  cathedral  church 
till  1807." — Raskin,  Stones  of  Venice. 

The  interior  of  the  church  is  by  G.  Grapiglia  We  may- 
notice  : 

Right  of  Entrance.  Marco  Basaiti.  S.  George — most  beautiful,  though 
injured. 

Right,  beyond  2nd  Altar.  An  old  Bishop's  chair,  of  Arabian  origin, 
engraved  with  a  sentence  from  the  Koran. 

*2,rd  Altar.  Marco  Basaiti.  S.  Peter  throned  between  four  saints — 
a  noble  and  beautiful  picture — with  the  characteristic  of  the  master,  who 
loved  figures  in  shadow  against  a  glowing  sky. 

"  The  same  exclusively  religious  character  may  be  remarked  in  Basaiti, 
who  resembles  Cima  da  Conegliano  in  many  respects,  although  he  differs 
from  him  in  the  general  tone  of  his  compositions,  which  rather  incline  to 
softness  and  grace,  whilst  those  of  Cima  are  characterized  by  a  majestic 
severity.  Basaiti  is  particularly  distinguished  by  the  harmony  and 
suavity  of  his  colouring,  by  his  knowledge  of  chiaroscuro,  in  which  he  is 
superior  to  most  of  his  contemporaries,  and  by  the  expression  of  angelic 
beatitude  and  calm  melancholy  which  he  gives  to  his  personages.  He 
is  inferior  to  Cima  in  the  arrangement  of  his  landscapes  and  the  disposi- 
tion of  his  draperies,  but  these  purely  external  defects  are  fully  compen- 
sated by  the  deep  religious  feeling  which  breathes  in  all  his  composi- 
tions. .  .  In  these  pictures  of  S.  Pietro  in  Castello,  notwithstanding 
their  injured  condition,  the  suave  and  harmonious  touch  of  the  artist  may 
still  be  recognised." — Rio. 

Behind  the  High  Altar.  Bust  of  S.  Lorenzo  Giustiniani,  1st  Patriarch 
of  Venice,  of  the  15th  century. 

The  neighbouring  Church  of  S.  Giuseppe  di  Castello 
(seldom  open)  contains  the  tomb  of  Marino  Grimani,  with 
bronze  ornaments  by  Girolamo  Campagna,  and  the  tomb 
of  Girolamo  Grimani  by  Aless.  Vittoria. 

Close  to  this,  is  the  entrance  of  the  Public  Gardens — 
Giardini  Pubblici — laid  out  by  Giannantonio  Selva  in  i8io. 
They  are  approached  from  the  Riva  degli  Schiavoni  by  the 


GIARDINI PUBBLICL  95 

widest  street  in  Venice,  now  called  Via  Garibaldi.  Here  is 
a  beautiful  Gothic  gateway.  The  gardens  are  generally- 
deserted. 

"  II  y  a,  comme  k  I'ordinaire,  tres-peu  de  promeneurs.  Les  Veniti- 
ennes  elegantes  craignent  le  chaud  et  n'oseraient  sortir  en  plein  jour, 
mais  en  revanche  elles  craignent  le  froid  et  ne  hasardent  guere  dehors 
la  nuit.  II  y  a  trois  ou  quatre  jours,  faits  expres  pour  elles  dans  chaque 
saison,  ou.  elles  font  lever  la  couverture  de  la  gondole,  mais  elles  mettent 
rarement  les  pieds  a  terre  ;  c'est  une  espece  a  part,  si  molle  et  si  delicate 
qu'un  rayon  de  soleil  ternit  leur  beaute,  et  qu'un  souffle  de  la  brise  ex- 
pose leur  vie.  Les  hommes  civilises  cherchent  de  preference  les  lieux 
ou  ils  peuvent  rencontrer  le  beau  sexe  :  le  theatre,  les  conversazioni,  les 
cafes,  et  I'enceinte  abritee  de  la  Piazzetta  a  sept  heures  du  soir.  II  ne 
reste  done  aux  jardins  que  quelques  vieillards  grognons,  quelques 
fumeurs  stupides,  et  quelques  bilieux  melancoliques." — George  Satid, 
Lettres  (Tun  Voyageur. 

The  Giardini  Pubblici  is  one  of  the  best  points  from  which 
to  watch  the  glorious  Venetian  sunset.  Here  are  two  de- 
scriptions of  it : 

*'  Le  soleil  etait  descendu  derriere  les  monts  Vicentins.  De  grandes 
nuees  violettes  traversaient  le  ciel  au-dessus  de  Venise.  La  tour  de 
Saint-Marc,  les  coupoles  de  Sainte  Marie,  et  cette  pepiniere  de  fleches 
et  de  minarets  qui  s'eleve  de  tous  les  points  de  la  ville,  se  dessinaient  en 
aiguilles  noires  sur  le  ton  etincelant  de  I'horizon.  Le  ciel  arrivait,  par 
une  admirable  degradation  de  nuances,  du  rouge-cerise  au  bleu  de  smalt ; 
et  I'eau,  calme  et  limpide  comme  une  glace,  recevait  exactement  le  re- 
flet de  cette  immense  irridation.  Au-dessous  de  Venise  elle  avait  I'air 
d'un  grand  miroir  de  cuivre  rouge.  Jamais  je  n'avais  vu  Venise  si  belle 
et  si  feerique.  Cette  noire  silhouette  jetee  entre  le  ciel  et  I'eau  ardente, 
comme  dans  une  mer  de  feu,  etait  alors  une  de  ces  sublimes  aberrations 
d'architecture  que  le  poete  de  1' Apocalypse  a  du  voir  flotter  sur  les 
greves  de  Patmos,  quand  il  revait  sa  Jerusalem  nouvelle  et  qu'il  la  com- 
parait  a  une  belle  epousee. 

"Peu  a  peu  les  couleurs  s'obscurcirent,  les  contours  devinrent  plus 
massifs,  les  profondeurs  plus  mysterieuses.  Venise  prit  I'aspect  d'une 
flotte  immense,  puis  d'un  bois  de  hauts  cypres  ou  les  canaux  s'enfon- 
5aient  comme  de  grands  chemins  de  sable  argente.  Ce  sont  la  les 
instants  oil  j'airae  a  regarder  au  loin.      Quand  les  formes   s'effacent. 


-96  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

quand  les  objets  semblent  trembler  dans  la  brume  ;  quand  mon  imagina- 
tion peut  s'elancer  dans  un  champ  immense  de  conjectures  et  de 
caprices." — George  Sand,  Lettres  dun  Voyageur. 

"  La  ligne  de  maisons  de  la  Giudecca  qu'interrompt  le  dome  de 
I'eglise  du  Redempteur ;  la  pointe  de  la  Douane  de  mer  elevant  sa  tour 
carree,  surmontee  de  deux  Hercules  soutenant  une  Fortune ;  les  deux 
coupoles  de  Santa  Maria  della  Salute,  ferment  une  decoupure  merveil- 
leusement  accidentee,  qui  se  detache  en  vigueur  sur  le  ciel  et  fait  le  fond 
du  tableau. 

"  L'lle  de  Saint-Georges-Majeur,  placee  plus  avant,  sert  de  repous- 
soir,  avec  son  eglise,  son  dome  et  son  clocher  de  briques,  diminutif  du 
Campanile,  qu'on  aper9oit  a  droite,  au-dessus  de  I'ancienne  Bibliotheque 
et  du  palais  ducal. 

"Tous  ces  edifices  baignes  d'ombre,  puisque  la  lumiere  est  derriere 
eux,  ont  des  tons  azures,  lilas,  violets,  sur  lesquels  se  dessinent  en  noir 
les  agres  des  batiments  a  I'ancre  ;  au-dessus  d'eux  eclate  un  incendie  de 
splendeurs,  un  feu  d'artifice  de  rayons  ;  le  soleil  s'abaisse  dans  des 
amoncellements  de  topazes,  de  rubis,  d'amethysts  que  le  vent  fait  couler 
a  chaque  minute,  en  changeant  la  forme  des  nuages  ;  des  fusees  eblouis- 
santes  jaillissent  entre  les  deux  coupoles  de  la  Salute,  et  quelquefois, 
selon  le  point  oil  Ton  est  place,  la  fleche  de  Palladio  coupe  en  deux  le 
disque  et  I'astre. 

"  Ce  coucher  de  soleil  a  la  lagune  pour  miroir  :  toutes  ces  lueurs, 
tous  les  rayons,  tous  ces  feux,  toutes  ces  phosphorescences  misellent  sur 
le  clapotis  des  vagues  en  etincelles,  en  paillettes,  en  prismes,  en  trainees 
de  flamme.  Cela  reluit,  cela  scintille,  cela  flamboie,  cela  s'agite  dans 
un  fourmillement  lumineux  perpetuel.  Le  clocher  de  Saint  Georges- 
Majeur,  avec  son  ombre  opaque  qui  s'allonge  au  loin,  tranche  en  noir 
sur  cet  embrasement  aquatique,  ce  qui  le  grandit  d'une  fa9on  demesuree 
et  lui  donne  I'air  d'avoir  sa  base  au  fond  de  I'abime.  La  decoupure  des 
edifices  semble  nager  entre  deux  ciels  ou  entre  deux  mers.  Est-ce 
I'eau  qui  reflete  le  ciel  ou  le  ciel  qui  reflete  I'eau  ?  L'oeil  hesite  et  tout 
se  confonde,  dans  un  eblouissement  general." — Gautier,  ^^ Italia." 

Very  near  one  end  of  the  gardens  is  the  Church  of  S. 
Biagio,  contauiing  the  tomb  of  Angelo  Emo  by  G.  Ferrari. 
Close  to  this  our  gondolier  should  turn  up  the  Rio  del 
Arsenale,  to  the  principal  buildings  of  the  Arsenal,  which, 
begun  in  1300,  is  nearly  two  miles  in  circuit.  Its  battle- 
mented  walls  are  attributed  to  Andrea  Fisano.    The  Renais- 


THE  ARSENAL.  97 

sance  gate-way  has  quaint  red  towers.  The  statue  of  S. 
Giustina  is  by  Gir.  Campagna,  and  commemorates  the  Battle 
of  Lepanto,  fought  on  her  festival,  Oct.  7,  1571. 

On  either  side  the  entrance  stand  the  two  famous  Lions 
brought  from  Athens  in  1687  by  Doge  Francesco  Morosini. 

"The  lion,  in  a  sitting  posture,  and  ten  feet  in  height,  stood  on  the 
inner  shore  of  the  Piroeus  harbour,  which  it  seemed  to  guard.  From 
that  statue  the  harbour  itself  derived  the  name  of  Porto  Leone,  which  it 
bore  among  the  Franks  all  through  the  Middle  Ages  and  down  to  our 
own  times.     As  such  it  is  mentioned  by  Lord  Byron  in  '  the  Giaour.' 

"The  second  statue,  also  of  Pentelic  marble,  was  nearly  equal  to  the 
first  in  point  of  art,  but  far  less  good  in  point  of  preservation.  The 
travellers  of  1675  saw  it  on  its  original  base,  a  little  outside  the  city, 
near  the  ancient  'Sacred  Way.'  The  animal  is  represented  as  couch- 
ing and  at  rest  ;  and  Spon  says  that  he  felt  inclined  to  address  it  in  the 
following  words  :  '  Sleep  on,  Lion  of  Athens,  since  the  Lion  of  the 
Harbour  watches  for  thee.  '* 

"  Close  observers  must  from  the  first  have  noticed  with  surprise  that 
the  statue  of  the  sitting  lion  bore  around  each  of  its  shoulders,  and  in 
serpentine  folds,  the  remains  of  barbaric  inscriptions.  These  strange 
characters  were  after  a  time  recognised  as  Norwegian  Runes.  Their 
interpretation  is  due  to  M.  Rafnr,  an  antiquary  of  Copenhagen.  If 
reduced  to  straight  lines  the  inscription  on  the  lion's  left  shoulder  is  as 
follows  : 

"  '  Hakon,  combined  with  Ulf,  with  Asmund,  and  with  Om,  conquered 
this  port  (the  Piroeus).  These  men  and  Harold  the  Tall.t  imposed  large 
fines,  on  account  of  the  revolt  of  the  Greek  people.  Dalk  has  been 
detained  in  distant  lands.  Egil  was  waging  war,  together  with  Ragnar, 
in  Roumania  and  Armenia.' 

"  We  will  now  give  the  inscription  from  the  right  shoulder  of  the 
lion  : 

"  '  Asmund  engraved  these  Runes  in  combination  with  Asgeir,  Thor- 
leif,  Thord,  and  Ivar,  by  desire  of  Harold  the  Tall,  although  the  Greeks 
on  reflection  opposed  it. '  " — Quarterly  Reviroj. 

*  Voyages  de  Spon  ct  Wheler,  vol.  ii. ,  pp.  145  et  177,  ed.  1679. 

t  Harold,  son  of  Sigurd,  called  Hardrada,  or  'the  Severe.'  In  1040,  he  overcame 
the  Athenian  insurgents  ;  and,  in  1042,  dethroned  the  Emperor  Michael  and  pro- 
claimed Zoe  and  Theodora  joint  Empresses  of  Constantinople.  He  succeeded  Mag- 
nus the  Good  upon  the  throne  of  Norway,  and  on  Sep.  25,  1066,  was  killed  by  an 
arrow  in  battle  at  Stamford  Bridge  near  York,  whilst  fighting  against  Harold  the 
Saxon  in  behalf  of  his  brother  Tosti. 

VOL.    II.  7 


98  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  Annoury  and  Museum  (open  from  9  to  3,  upon  leav- 
ing your  name)  contains  much  of  interest,  especially  to  those 
conversant  with  naval  affairs.   Ordinary  travellers  will  notice  : 

Lower  Hall. — 

Model  of  a  Venetian  house,  showing  the  piles  on  which  it  is  built. 
Mast  of  the  Bucentaur. 
Model  of  the  Bucentaur. 

The  Bucentaur  was  used  in  the  ceremony  of  wedding  the  Adriatic, 
which  was  enjoined  by  the  gratitude  of  Pope  Alexander  III.  after 
the  victory  of  the  Venetians  under  Doge  Sebastiano  Ziani  over  the 
fleet  of  Frederick  Barbarossa,  and  which  thenceforth  annually  proclaim- 
ed the  naval  supremacy  of  Venice  to  the  world.  This  was  attended  by 
the  papal  Nuncio  and  the  whole  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  who,  without 
protest,  every  year  witnessed  the  dropping  of  a  sanctified  ring  into  the 
sea,  with  the  prescriptive  accompaniment :  Desponsanitis  te,  mare,  in  sig- 
num  veri perpetuique  dominii.  (We  espouse  thee,  sea,  in  sign  of  true  and 
lasting  dominion.) 

"  The  spouseless  Adriatic  mourns  her  lord  ; 

And,  annual  marriage  now  no  more  renewed. 

The  Bucentaur  lies  rotting  unrestored, 

Neglected  garment  of  her  widowhood  ! 

S.  Mark  yet  sees  his  lion  where  he  stood 

Stand,  but  in  mockery  of  his  withered  power. 

Over  the  proud  Place  where  an  Emperor  sued, 

And  monarclis  gazed  and  envied  in  tlie  hour 
When  Venice  was  a  queen  with  an  unequalled  dower." 

Byron,  Childe  Harold. 

Upper  Hall.~ 

Banners  taken  at  Lepanto. 

Monument  and  relics  of  Vittore  Pisani,  1 380. 

Armour  of  .Sebastiano  Venier,  hero  of  Lepanto,  Oct.  7,  1571. 

Armour  of  Agostino  Barbarigo,  15  71. 

Armour  of  Henri  IV.  of  France,  given  by  him  to  the  Republic  in 

1603. 
Armour  of  Doge  Contarini. 
Armour  of  Doge  Sebastiano  Ziani,  ob.  1 1 78. 
Armour  of  Gattemelata,  1438. 


S.  GIOVANNI  IN  BRAGORA.  99 

Armour  of  Cristofero  More,  given  by  Pope  Pius  II.,  1468. 

Sword  of  Doge  Pesaro. 

Armour  of  Doge  Alvise  Mocenigo. 

Armour  used  in  Torture, 

The  Doge's  Chair,  used  when  he  visited  the  arsenal. 

Beautifully  wrought  Springal,  by  the  son  of  Doge  Pasquale  Cicogna, 

1 6th  century. 
Horse  Armour,  found  at  Aquileja. 

The  Arsenal  of  Venice  furnished  Dante  with  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  similes  for  his  Inferno. 

'*  Quale  neir  arzana  de'  Viniziani 
Bolle  I'invemo  la  tenace  pece 
A  rimpalmar  li  legni  lor  non  sani 

Chi  navicar  non  ponno  ;  e'n  quella  vece 
Chi  fa  suo  legno  nuovo,  e  chi  ristoppa 
Le  coste  a  quel  che  piii  viaggi  fece  ; 

Che  ribatte  da  proda,  e  chi  da  poppa  ; 
Altri  fa  remi,  e  altri  volge  sarte  ; 
Chi  terzeruolo  ed  artimon  rintoppa  : 

Tal,  non  per  fuoco,  ma  per  divina  arte, 
Bollia  laggiuso  una  pegola  spessa." — Inf.  xxi.  7 — 18. 

Close  to  the  Arsenal,  is  the  Church  of  S.  Martina,  built 
by  J.  Sansovino,  1540 — 1653.     It  contains  : 

Right,  2nd  Chapel.  Tomb  of  Doge  Francesco  Erizzo,  by  Matteo 
Camero. 

Right  of  High  Altar.  Girolamo  da  Santa  Croce.  The  Resurrection. 
A  Bergamasque  master — one  of  his  early  pictures. 

On  the  Organ  Gallery.  Id.     The  Last  Supper,  1459. 

The  font  has  four  angels  by  Tidlio  Lombardo,  1484. 

Returning  to  the  Lagoon,  behind  the  Riva  degli  Schiavoni, 
is  the  15th-century  Church  of  S.  Giovanni  in  Bragora.  It 
contains  several  very  fine  pictures  : 

Right  Aisle.     Paris  Bordone.     Last  Supper. 
Sacristy.      Giovanni  Bellini.     Madonna. 

Lazzaro  Sebastiani,     Deposition. 


lOO  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

*  Right  of  High  Altar.  Cima  da  Conegliano.  Helena  and  Constan- 
tine. 

*Apse.  Cima  da  Cone^iano.  The  Baptism  of  Christ — one  of  the 
grandest  works  of  the  master,  which  ought  to  be  thoroughly  studied.  It 
can  only  be  properly  seen  by  standing  on  the  altar. 

"  In  the  dignity  of  the  head  of  Christ,  in  the  beauty  of  the  angels, 
and  the  solemn  gestures  of  the  Baptist,  this  picture  is  incomparable." — 
Burckhardt. 

Luigi  Vivarini.     The  Resurrection. 

"Here  the  hardness  of  Bartolomeo  is  mellowed,  partly  through  the 
influence  of  Bellini,  into  a  really  noble  grace  and  fulness." — Burck- 
hardt. 

Cima  da  Conegliano.     The  story  of  the  True  Cross. 

In  the  Campo  di  S.  Giovanni  in  Bragora  is  the  fine  old 
Palazzo  Badoer,  of  13 lo,  inlaid  with  coloured  marbles.  It 
has  been  infamously  modernized. 

"  The  ogeed  arches  of  the  windows  are  more  than  usually  good  ; 
whilst  the  beauty  of  the  central  window,  inclosed  within  a  square  line 
of  moulding,  within  which  the  wall  is  incrusted  with  marble  relieved  by 
medallions,  is  very  great.  The  balconies  of  the  lower  windows  are 
clearly  modem,  but  there  is  a  trace  of  the  original  balustrade  between 
the  shafts  of  the  windows  in  the  second  stage ;  and  in  front  of  the  side- 
lights to  the  upper  window  is  a  grille  of  iron-work  taking  the  place  of 
a  balcony,  and  composed  of  a  combination  of  quatrefoils.  The  arrange- 
ment of  the  windows  in  this  part  is  not  absolutely  regular,  but  still  the 
centre  is  very  marked  ;  and  though  it  is  of  early  date,  the  true  use  of  the 
arch  nowhere  appears.  The  usual  dog-tooth  cornice  fini.shes  the  walls 
under  the  eaves." — Street. 


XXV. 
NORTH-EASTERN  VENICE. 

THE   NORTH-EASTERN    QUARTER   OF   VENICE. 

In  a  gondola  to — 

S.  Moise,  S.  Maria  Zobenigo,  S.  Maurizio,  S.  Stefano,  S.  Luca,  S. 
Salvatore,  S.  Lio,  La  Madonna  dei  Miracoli,  S.  Apostoli,  Palazzo  Falier, 
S.  Maria  Gesuiti,  The  Misericordia,  La  Madonna  del  Orto,  S.  Giobbe, 
La  Maddalena, 

THOSE  who  wish  to  select  need  only  leave  their  gondolas 
at  S.  Stefano  and  S.  Maria  del  Orto,  and  perhaps  for 
the  staircase  in  the  Corte  del  Maltese.  But  the  excursion  is 
one  which  gives  an  admirable  idea  of  the  quiet  bits  of 
beauty  in  the  side  canals,  of  the  marvellous  variety  of  the 
palaces  rising  steeply  from  the  pale  green  water,  of  the  briUiant 
acacias  leaning  over  the  old  sculptured  walls,  of  the  banksia 
roses  falling  over  the  parapets  of  the  little  courts  like  snow- 
drifts, and  of  the  tamarisks  feathering  down  into  the  water, 
which  is  ever  lapping  with  melancholy  cadence  against  what 
Ruskin  calls  "  the  sea-stories."  Travellers  may  often  com- 
plain of  the  weariness  of  the  Venetian  sights  and  of  their 
being  so  like  one  another.  It  is  quite  true  that  they  are  so, 
but  let  those  who  are  bored  sit  still  in  their  gondolas.  For 
the  sake  of  a  few  gems  many  churches  must  be  visited,  but 
the  gondola-days  afford  many  delightful  memories  for  those 
who  never  do  any  definite  sight-seeing. 


I02  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

"  Floating  down  narrow  lanes,  where  carpenters,  at  work  with  plane 
and  chisel  in  their  shops,  toss  the  light  shaving  straight  upon  the  water, 
where  it  lies  like  weed,  or  ebbs  away  before  us  in  a  tangled  heap.  Past 
open  doors,  decayed  and  rotten  from  long  steeping  in  the  wet,  through 
which  some  scanty  patch  of  vine  shines  green  and  bright,  making  un- 
usual shadows  on  the  pavement  with  its  trembling  leaves.  Past  quays 
and  terraces,  where  women,  gracefully  veiled,  are  passing  and  repassing, 
and  where  idlers  are  reclining  in  the  sunshine  on  flagstones  and  on 
flights  of  steps.  Past  bridges,  where  there  are  idlers  too,  loitering  and 
looking  over.  Below  stone  balconies,  erected  at  a  giddy  height,  before 
the  loftiest  windows  of  the  loftiest  houses.  Past  plots  of  garden,  theatres, 
shrines,  prodigious  piles  of  architecture, — ^Gothic — Saracenic — fanciful 
with  all  the  fancies  of  all  times  and  countries.  Past  buildings  that  were 
high,  and  low,  and  black,  and  white,  and  straight,  and  crooked  ;  mean 
and  grand,  crazy  and  strong.  Twining  among  a  tangled  lot  of  boats 
and  barges,  and  shooting  out  at  last  into  a  Grand  Canal !  " — Dickens. 

The  part  of  Venice  we  are  about  to  visit  is  divided  by  a 
wider  canal  than  most  into  the  two  principal  islands  of 
Castello  and  S.  Nicolo.  It  is  curious  to  see  how  traces  of  a 
fierce  rivalry,  at  least  350  years  old,  still  appears  in  their 
popular  songs,  e.  g. 

"  Nu  semo  Castelani  e  tanto  basta, 
E  marciaremo  co  la  fassa  rossa, 
E  marciaremo  co'l  sigaro  in  boca  : 
Faremo  le  cortelae,  chi  toca,  toca  !  " 

"  E  semo  Nicoloti  e  tanto  basta, 
E  marciaremo  co  la  fassa  nera. 
La  fassa  negra  e'l  fiore  su'l  capelo 
Faremo  le  cortelae  co  quel  de  Castelo." 

"NuUe  part  il  n'y  a  plus  de  paroles  et  moins  de  faits,  plus  de  que- 
relles  et  moins  de  rixes.  Les  barcarolles  ont  un  merveilleux  talent  pour 
se  dire  des  injures,  mais  il  est  bien  rare  qu'ils  en  viennent  aux  mains.  Deux 
barques  se  rencontrent  et  se  heurtent  a  Tangle  d'un  mur,  par  la  mala- 
dresse  de  I'un  et  I'inattention  de  I'autre.  Les  deux  barcarolles  attendent 
en  silence  le  choc  qu'il  n'est  plus  temps  d'eviter  ;  leur  premier  reijard 
est  pour  la  barque  ;  quand  ils  se  sont  assures  I'un  et  I'autre  de  ne  s'etre 
point  endommages,  ils  commencent  a  se  toiser  pendant  que  les  barques 
se  separent.    Alors  commence  la  discussion. — Pourquoi  n'as-tu  pas  crie, 


S.  MOISE,  S.  MARIA  ZOBENIGO.  103 

siastali  t — ^J'ai  crie. — Non. — Si  fait. — Je  gage  que  non,  corpo  di  Bacto. 
— ^Je  jure  que  si,  sangue  di  Diana. — Mais  avec  quelle  diable  de  voix  ? — 
Mais  quelle  espece  d'oreilles  as-tu  pour  entendre  ? — Dis-moi  dans  quel 
cabaret  tu  t'eclaircis  la  voix  de  la  sorte. — Dis-moi  de  quel  ane  la  mere  a 
reve  quand  elle  etait  grosse  de  toi. — La  vache  qui  t'a  con9u  aurait  dA 
I'apprendre  a  beugler. — L'anesse  qui  t'a  enfante  aurait  du  te  donner  les 
oreilles  de  ta  famille, — Qu'est-ce  que  tu  dis,  race  de  chien  ?  ' — Qu'est- 
cequetu  dis,  fils  da  guenon?  Alors  la  discussion  s'anime,  et  va  toujours 
s'echauffant  a  mesure  que  les  champions  s'eloignent.  Quand  ils  ont  mis 
un  ou  deux  ponts  entre  eux,  les  menaces  commencent. — Viens  done  un 
peu  ici,  que  je  te  fasse  savoir  de  quel  bois  sont  faites  mes  rames. — 
Attends,  attends,  figure  de  marsouin,  que  je  fasse  sombrer  la  coque  de 
noix  en  crachant  dessus. — Si  j'eternuais  aupres  de  ta  coquille  d'oeuf,  je 
la  ferais  voler  en  I'air. — Ta  gondole  aurait  bon  besoin  d'enfoncer  un  peu 
pour  laver  les  vers  dont  elle  est  rongee. — La  tienne  doit  avoir  des 
araignees,  car  tu  as  vole  le  jupon  de  ta  maitresse  pour  lui  faire  una 
doublure. — Maudite  soit  la  madone  de  ton  traguet  pour  n'avoir  pas 
envoye  la  peste  a  de  pareils  gondoliers  ! — Si  la  madone  de  ton  traguet 
n'etait  pas  la  concubine  du  diable,  il  y  a  longtemps  que  tu  serais  noye. 
— Et  ainsi  de  metaphore  en  metaphore  on  en  vient  aux  plus  horribles 
imprecations;  mais  heureusement,  au  moment  oil  il  est  question  de 
s'egorger,  les  voix  se  perdent  dans  reloignement,  et  les  injures  continuent 
encore  longtemps  apres  que  les  deux  adversaires  ne  s'entendent  plus." — 
George  Sand. 

The  first  canal  on  the  right  beyond  the  mole  of  the  Piaz- 
zetta  leads  speedily  to  the  gorgeous  fa9ade  of  the  Church  of 
S.  Mo'ise,  built  by  A.  Tremignano,  1688.  It  contains,  near  the 
entrance,  the  grave  of  Law,  the  originator  of  the  South  Sea 
Bubble,  who  died  here,  1729.  Montesquieu,  who  met  him 
at  Venice,  wrote  : 

"  C'etait  le  meme  homme,  toujours  I'esprit  occupe  de  projets,  tou- 
jours la  tete  remplie  de  calculs  et  de  valeurs  numeraires  ou  representa- 
tives. II  jouait  souvent,  et  assez  gros  jeu,  quoique  sa  fortune  fut  fort 
mince." 

Chapel  left  of  Altar.     Palma  Giovane.     The  Last  Supper. 

Tintoretto.     Christ  washing  the  disciples'  feet. 

The  neighbouring  Church  of  S.  Mar/a  Zx)benigo  (or  del 
Giglio)  was  founded  by  the  Zobenico  family.      It  contains 


I04  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

the  tomb  of  Giulio  Contarini  by  Aless.  Vitioria,  and  a  statue 
by  Giulio  del  Moro  ;  also  : 

*2nd  Altar  on  right.  Tintoret.  Christ  with  SS.  Justina  and  Au- 
gustin. 

"  Christ  appears  to  be  descending  out  of  the  clouds  between  the  two 
saints,  who  are  both  kneeling  on  the  sea  shore.  It  is  a  Venetian  sea, 
breaking  on  a  flat  beach,  hke  the  Lido,  with  a  scarlet  galley,  in  the 
middle  distance,  of  which  the  chief  use  is  to  unite  the  two  figures  by  a 
point  of  colour.  Both  the  saints  are  respectable  Venetians  of  the  lower 
class,  in  homely  dresses  and  with  homely  faces.  The  whole  picture  is 
quietly  painted,  and  somewhat  slightly  ;  free  from  all  extravagance,  and 
displaying  little  power  except  in  the  general  truth  or  harmony  of  colours 
so  easily  laid  on.  It  is  better  preserved  than  usual,  and  worth  dwelling 
upon  as  an  instance  of  the  style  of  the  master  when  at  rest." — Rnskin, 
Stones  of  Venice,  vol.  iii. 

The  Church  of  S.  Matirizio  contains  sculptures  by 
Domenico  Fadiga.  Near  it  is  the  Scuola  degli  Albajiesi, 
founded  by  Albanian  merchants  in  1447.  The  buildings  are 
of  1500  :  some  curious  reliefs  are  let  into  the  walls. 

The  Church  of  S.  Stefano  was  built  by  Augustinian 
monks,  1294 — 1320.  Its  handsome  Gothic  door  is  pro- 
bably by  the  Massegne. 

"  The  want  of  proper  balance  between  decoration  and  the  thing 
decorated,  and  of  fit  subordination  of  detail  to  general  effect  becomes 
more  and  more  palpable  as  we  approach  the  period  of  the  Renaissance. 
About  this  Gothic  arch  the  stone  vegetation  is  absolutely  rank,  and  quite 
out  of  proportion  with  the  dimensions  of  the  arch  itself." — PerkirCs 
Italian  Sculptors. 

"  The  interior  of  S.  Stefano  is  very  fine  and  unlike  what  is  common  in 
the  North  of  Europe.  The  dimensions  are  very  large.  The  nave  is  about 
48  ft.  wide,  and  the  whole  length  about  1 70  ft.  There  are  a  cloister  and 
a  chapter-house  north  of  the  nave,  and  a  campanile  detached  at  some 
distance  to  the  east.  The  arcades  of  six  pointed  arches  dividing  the  nave 
from  either  aisle  arevery  light,  and  supported  on  delicate  marble  column-, 
whose  capitals,  with  square  abaci  and  foliage  of  classical  character,  hardly 
look  like  Gothic  work.  The  masonry  and  mouldings  of  these  arches 
are  not  arranged  in  a  succession  of  orders,  as  is  the  case  in  almost  all 


S.  STEFANO,  S.  LUC  A.  105 

good  pointed  work,  but  have  a  broad,  plain  soffit,  with  a  small  and 
shallow  moulding  at  the  edge,  finished  with  a  dentil  or  fillet  ornament, 
which,  originally  used  by  the  architect  of  S.  Mark's  in  order  to  form  the 
lines  of  constructional  stonework  within  which  his  encrusted  marbles 
were  held,  was  afterwards,  down  to  the  very  decline  of  pointed  archi- 
tecture, used  everywhere  in  Venice, — not  only  in  its  original  position, 
but,  as  at  S.  Stefano,  in  place  of  a  label  round  the  arch." — Street, 

In  the  centre  of  the  nave  is  the  slab  tomb  of  Doge 
Morosini,  1694,  by  Alessandro  Leopardi. 

Left  of  great  door.  Tomb  of  the  physician  Jacopo  Sunano  (15  n)  of 
Rimini,  who  is  represented,  with  his  wife  Eugenia,  praying,  in  a  bronze 
relief,  near  the  door  of  the  Sacristy. 

Choir.  Statues  and  reliefs  by  Vittore  Camelio.  Before  the  altar  the 
grave  of  the  Archduke  Frederick  of  Austria,  1847. 

Chapel  left  of  High  Altar.  Tomb  of  G.  B.  Farretti,  1557,  by  AficheU 
Sanmichele. 

Baptistery.     Statue  of  the  Baptist,  by  Giidio  del  Mora. 

Entrance  of  Cloister.  The  fine  Tomb  of  Doge  Andrea  Contarini, 
1382,  corbelled  out  of  the  wall.  "  MCCCVII.  Dux  creatus. 
MCCCLXXXII  in  ccelum  sublatus." 

The  arched  bridge  under  the  choir  (which  is  built  over  a 
canal)  should  be  noticed. 

The  Campo  S.  Stefano  contains  a  number  of  beautiful  old 
buildings.  The  Palazzo  Loredan,  of  Ionic  and  Corinthian 
architecture;  the  Palazzo  Morosini  oi  the  i6th  century,  in 
which  G.  Morosini,  surnamed  Peloponnesiaco,  was  born  ;  the 
huge  Palazzo  Pisani,  of  the  17th  century;  and  the  Palazzo 
Baffo,  of  the  15th  century.  In  the  calle  which  leads  to  the 
Campo  S.  Samuele  is  a  house  with  a  most  beautiful  parapet, 
having  delicately  carved  devices  in  stone  let  into  each  pin- 
nacle. 

Behind  S.  Stefano  is  the  wide  Campo  S.  Angelo,  a  little 
beyond  which  is  the  Church  of  S.  Luca,  built  1581,  which 
contains  a  picture  of  S.  Luke  and  the  Virgin  by  Paul  Ve- 
ronese.    Here  Pietro  Aretino  is  buried. 


io6  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

"  Surle  mur  est  son  portrait,  par  Alvise  dal  Friso,  neveu  et  eleve  de 
Paul  Veronese  ;  mais  il  n'y  a  aucune  trace  de  sa  sepulture,  qui  probablc- 
ment  aura  disparu  lorsque  I'eglise  fut  refaite,  a  la  fin  du  xvinie  siecle. 
Les  cures  de  la  paroisse  se  sont  transmis  de  I'un  a  I'autre  que  I'Aretin, 
pres  de  mourir,  ayant  refu  I'extreme-onction,  dit  en  riant  ce  vers  que  la 
bouffonnerie  italienne  rend  peut-etre  moins  impie  qu'il  ne  le  parait : 

Guardatemi  da'  topi,  or  che  son  unto." — Valery. 

Opposite  this  church  is  the  Teatro  Rossini,  and  just 
beyond  it,  the  Palazzo  Contarini,  a  fine  Renaissance 
building  of  the  15th  century.  Close  by  is  the  Calle  delle 
Locande,  in  which,  in  the  court-yard  called  Corte  del  Maltese, 
is  a  beautiful  circular  twisted  staircase  of  the  :5th  century. 
"  It  has  continuous  open  arcades  following  the  rise  of  the 
steps,  the  usual  shafted  balustrade  filling  the  lower  part  of 
the  openings  between  the  columns." 

In  the  neighbouring  Campo  S.  Benedetto  is  a  splendid 
half-ruined  Gothic  palace.  The  brackets  of  its  balconies, 
the  flower-work  on  its  cornices,  and  the  arabesques  on  the 
angles  of  the  balconies  themselves,  deserve  attention. 

Near  this,  in  the  Campo  S.  Faternian,  is  the  red  house  of 
Daniele  Manin  (ob.  1857),  honoured  as  having  been  instru- 
mental in  re-estabUshing  the  independence  of  Venice  in 
1848.     His  statue  was  erected  here  in  1875. 

By  a  narrow  calle,  or  a  winding  canal,  we  reach  the 
Church  of  S.  Salvatore,  built  on  the  site  of  a  church  of 
the  12th  century,  in  the  porch  of  which  Pope  Alexander 
III.  is  said  to  have  taken  refuge  for  the  night.    It  contains  : 

Right,  2nd  Altar.     Gir.  Campagna.     Statue  of  the  Madonna. 

Jacopo  Sansavino,  1556.  Tomb  of  Doge  Francesco  Venier.  The 
figure  of  the  dead  Doge  is  magnificent. 

yd  Altar.      Titian.     Coronation  of  the  Virgin. 

Right  Transept.  The  Monument  of  Caterina  Cornaro,  Queen  of 
Cyprus,  15 10,  hy  Bernardino  Contino. 

Chapel,  Right  0/ High  Altar.  Bonifazio,   Martyrdom  of  S.  Tlieodore. 


LA  MADONNA  DEI  MIRACOLL  107 

High  Altar.  Titian.  The  Transfiguration.  On  the  altar  a  beau- 
tiful Pala  (T Argento  of  1 290. 

Chapel  Left  of  Altar.      Giovanni  Bellini.     The  Supper  at  Emmaus. 

The  Organ  Gallery  is  by  Sansovino.  Left  of  the  organ  is  an  altar  by 
Gugl.  Berga?nesco  with  a  figure  of  S.  Jerome  by  Tomrnaso  Lombardo. 

The  Church  of  S.  Giuliano,  a  little  behind  S.  Salvatore, 
was  finished  by  A.  Vittoria  in  1153.  Over  the  entrance  is 
a  bronze  statue  of  Tomrnaso  da  Ravenna  by  Sansovino.  It 
contains  : 

Gir.  da  Santa  Croce.     The  Coronation  of  the  Virgin. 
Boccaccino  da  Cremona.     The  Virgin  and  four  saints. 

Further  east,  is  the  Church  of  S.  Lie  (S.  Leone).  It 
contains  : 

Left,  1st  Altar.      Titian.     S.  James. 

A  few  minutes  in  the  gondola  bring  us  to  the  Church  of 
S.  Giovanni  Cristostomo,  which  contains : 

Right,  1st  Altar.  Giov.  Bellini.  SS.  Jerome,  Christopher,  and 
Augustine. 

High  Altar.     Sebastian  del  Piombo.     S.  Christopher  and  other  saints. 

Last  Altar  but  one.  Tullio  Lombardo  (a  relief).  Coronation  of  the 
Virgin. 

In  the  Corte  del  Sabion  behind  the  church,  is  the  Palazzo 
Polo,  with  beautiful  Gothic  windows,  a  lovely  cross  let  into 
the  wall,  and  an  Arabic  framework.  The  details  of  this 
house  are  well  worth  study.  It  was  the  birth-place  of  the 
famous  Marco  Polo,  In  the  Calk  del  Bazatin  near  this,  is 
a  house  with  a  brick  parapet  with  beautiful  varied  mould- 
ings, crested  with  Arabian  ornament. 

The  Church  of  the  Madonna  dei  Miracoli  has  a  character 
of  its  own,  and  is  a  relief  after  the  conventionally  ugly 
churches  usual  at  Venice.    It  was  built  by  Pietro  Lombardo, 


io8  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

1484 — 1489,  and  is  of  rich  white  marble,  inlaid  with  red 
and  black.  The  decorations  are  very  rich  and  delicately 
executed.  The  interior  is  unimportant;  the  statues,  right 
and  left  of  the  high  altar,  are  by  Gir.  Campagna. 

"  It  seems  almost  incredible  that  eight  years  sufficed  for  the  construc- 
tion and  ornamentation  of  this  church,  which  is  one  of  the  most  ela- 
borate examples  of  Renaissance  architecture.  Without  and  within  its 
walls,  doorways,  and  pilasters  are  covered  with  leaves,  flowers,  birds, 
and  strange  creatures  born  of  a  fancy  wayward  but  even  logical  in  its 
deductions  from  nature,  not  carelessly  carved,  but  conscientiously  worked 
out  in  every  detail  with  equal  taste  and  skill.  The  rich  balustrades  of 
the  staircase  leading  to  the  chapel  of  the  Sanctuary  are  adorned  with 
small  half-figures  of  the  Virgin,  the  Angel  of  the  Annunciation,  S. 
Francis,  and  S.  Chiara,  and  the  pilasters  and  panels  about  it  are  filled 
with  ornaments  inspired  by  but  not  copied  from  the  antique." — Perkin's 
Italian  Sculptors. 

The  Palazzo  Sanudo  near  this  is  a  noble  Gothic  14th-century 
palace  with  Byzantine  cornices  and  fragments,  especially  in 
its  inner  court.  Its  door  is  quite  perfect,  "retaining  its 
wooden  valve  richly  sculptured,  its  wicket  for  examination  of 
the  stranger  demanding  admittance,  and  its  quaint  knocker 
in  the  form  of  a  fish." 

Near  this,  on  the  Rio  dei  S.  Apostoli,  is  the  Palazzo 
Palier,  which  occupies  the  site  of  the  house  of  Marino 
Faliero,  beheaded  1355.  It  has  a  beautiful  Byzantine 
window. 

"  But  for  this  range  of  windows,  the  little  piazza  SS.  Apostoli  would 
be  one  of  the  least  picturesque  in  Venice  ;  to  those,  however,  who  seek 
it  on  foot,  it  becomes  geographically  interesting  from  the  extraordinary 
involution  of  the  alleys  leading  to  it  from  the  Rialto.  It  is  only  with 
much  patience,  and  modest  following  of  the  guidance  of  the  marble 
thread  beneath  his  feet,  that  the  pedestrian  will  at  last  emerge  over  a 
steep  bridge  into  the  open  space  of  the  Piazza,  rendered  cheerful  in 
autumn  by  a  perpetual  market  of  pomegranates,  and  purple  gourds,  like 
enormous  black  figs ;  while  the  canal,  at  its  extremity,  is  half  blocked 


S.  APOSTOLI,  LA  MISERICORDIA.  109 

up  by  barges  laden  with  vast  baskets  of  grapes  as  black  as  charcoal, 
thatched  over  with  their  own  leaves. 

"  Looking  back,  on  the  other  side  of  the  canal,  he  will  see  the  windows 
and  the  arcade  of  pointed  arches  beneath  them,  which  are  the  remains 
of  the  palace  of  Marino  Faliero.  The  balcony  is,  of  course,  modgm, 
and  the  series  of  windows  has  been  of  greater  extent,  once  tenninated  by 
a  pilaster  on  the  left  hand,  as  well  as  on  the  right,  but  the  terminal 
arches  have  been  walled  up.  What  remains,  however,  is  enough,  with 
its  sculptured  birds  and  dragons,  to  give  a  very  distinct  idea  of  the 
second  order  window  in  its  perfect  form." — Riiskin,  Status  of  Venice, 
ii.  vii. 

The  Church  of  the  S.  Apostoli  contains  : 

Right.  The  Cappella  Corner,  a  reproduction  of  the  Lombard  style 
in  15 10  by  Gugl.  Bergamesco.  It  contains  the  16th-century  monuments 
of  Marco  and  Giorgio  Corner. 

Left  of  High  Altar.     Paul  Veronese.     The  Descent  of  the  Manna. 

At  the  end  of  this  canal  to  the  east  is  the  Church  of  S. 
Maria  dei  Gesuiti  (or  S.  Maria  Assunta),  1 715— 1730.  It 
contains  : 

J.  Tintoretto.     The  Assumption. 
Titian.     Martyrdom  of  S.  Lawrence. 

Near  this,  on  the  Fondamenta  Zen,  is  the  Palazzo  Zen,  of 
1 53 1.  Further  down  the  Fondamenta  is  the  Collegio  Marco 
Foscarini,  occupying  the  old  monastery  of  S.  Catherine,  In 
the  chapel  is  : 

Paul  Veronese.     The  Marriage  of  S.  Catherine. 

Crossing  a  wide  bit  of  canal,  we  reach  the  Abbazia  della 
Misericordia,  dating  from  the  loth  century,  but  modernized. 
Still,  it  is  a  picturesque  corner  of  the  canal.  A  gateway  of 
1505  remains,  and  some  curious  sculpture  by  Bartolomeo 
Bon.  An  interesting  Gothic  Palace  of  the  15th  century  on 
the  neighbouring  Fondamenta  belonged  to   Turkish   mer- 


no  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

chants.  It  is  adorned  with  some  curious  reliefs  of  Camels 
and  Arabs.  One  of  them  is  said  to  represent  "  Sior  Antonio 
Rioba,"  the  predecessor  of  Pantaloon,  for 

^  The  Planter  of  the  Lion  of  S.  Mark,  the  standard  of  the  republic, 
is  the  real  origin  of  the  word  Pantaloon — Piantaleone,  Pantaleon,  Pan- 
taloon. " — Byron,  Notes  to  Childe  Harold. 

Tintoret  lived  on  this  Fondamenta  dei  Mori,  where  his 
apartment  may  still  be  seen. 

The  neighbouring  Church  of  S.  Marziale  contains  : 

Titian.     Tobias  and  the  Angel. 

It  is  a  short  distance  to  the  Church  of  the  Madonna  del 
Orto,  erected  by  Tiberio  da  Parma  in  1372.  The  admirable 
facade  is  by  Bartolomeo  Bon,  1439 — ^47°  ;  ^^  any  rate  the 
statues  are  his. 

"  The  doorway  and  rose  windows  are  of  red  and  white  marble,  and 
in  the  side  windows  the  tracery  and  monials  are  of  white  marble,  and  the 
jambs  alternately  red  and  white.  The  rest  of  the  wall  is  brick,  but  has 
been  plastered  and  washed  with  pink.  The  windows  at  the  end  of  the 
aisles  are  remarkable  for  transoms  of  tracery  supported  upon  two  heights 
of  delicate  marble  shafts,  and  entirely  independent  of  the  glazing  that  is 
fixed  in  frames  within  them.  This  kind  of  arrangement,  incongruous  and 
unsatisfactory  as  it  is  here,  is  wortli  recollecting,  as  being  suggestive  of  an 
obvious  opening  for  the  use  of  traceried  windows  in  domestic  work  ; 
and  it  is  a  plan  of  most  frequent  occurrence  in  the  best  Italian  eccle- 
siastical architecture." — Street. 

To  see  this  church  well  it  should  be  visited  after  2  p.m. 
Internally  it  is  really  handsome.  It  is  almost  entirely  of 
brick.  Tintoretto,  Alessandro  Leopardi,  and  Ranusio  the 
geographer,  are  buried  here. 

"J'ai  regrette  de  ne  point  trouver  de  traces  du  tombeau  du  Tintoret 
et  de  celui  de  Marietta  Robusti,  sa  fille  et  son  eleve,  qu'il  eut  la  dou- 
leur  de  perdre  dans  un  age  peu  avance  ;  Marietta,  grand  peintre  de  por- 


LA  MADONNA  DEL  OR  TO.  iii 

tr  iits,  etait  encore  celebre  par  les  graces  de  sa  personne  at  ses  talens 
coaime  musicienne  et  cantatrice,  talens  qii'elle  devait  aux  lecons  du 
Napolitain  Jules  Zacchino,  le  Cimarosa  de  son  temps  ;  invitee  a  se  rendre 
i  la  cour  de  Philippe  II.,  de  I'empereur  Maximilien,  et  de  I'archiduc 
Ferdinand,  son  pere  ne  put  jamais  se  separer  de  la  fille  dont  il  etait  si 
fier;  il  la  maria  a  un  joaillier  Venitien,  homme  de  bon  sens,  desinteresse, 
e:  qui  preferait  que  sa  femme  fit  le  portrait  de  ses  confreres  ou  de  ses 
amis  au  lieu  de  peindre  les  riches  et  les  grands.  La  mort  de  Marietta 
fut  a  Venise  une  perte  publique,  et  Tintoret  voulut  qu'elle  reposat  a  Ste 
Marie  dell'  Orto,  au  milieu  de  ses  propres  chefs-d'oeuvre,  qu'il  semblait 
en  quelque  sorte  lui  consacrer." — Valery. 

The  church  contains  : — 

*  Right  Aisle.  1st  Altar.  Citna  da  Conegliano.  The  Baptist  between 
SS.  Mark  and  Peter,  and  SS.  Jerome  and  Paul.  Behind,  a  tree  stands 
out  against  a  clear  sky — beautiful  drawing  of  the  leaves  and  branches, 
also  of  the  flowers  in  the  foreground. 

"The  type  of  S.  John  the  Baptist  was,  perhaps,  the  best  adapted  to 
the  genius  of  Cima,  who  has  not  only  surpassed  himself  in  it,  but  in  the 
conception  of  the  character  has  left  the  greatest  painters  of  the  age — 
Titian  and  Raphael  included — far  behind  him.  Cima's  superiority  in 
this  respect  must  be  admitted  by  all  who  see  this  his  chef-d'oeuvre,  in 
which  the  spare  form  of  the  Baptist  is  represented  clothed  in  a  garment 
of  camel's  hair,  his  visage  pale  and  hollow,  and  his  eyes  ecstatically 
raised  towards  heaven ;  he  is  mounted  on  a  sort  of  pedestal,  around 
which  are  ranged  S.  Mark,  S.  Jerome,  S.  Peter,  with  his  inspired  look, 
S.  Paul,  grasping  with  an  air  of  authority  the  sword  of  the  Word  ;  the 
whole  forming  a  group  which  will  bear  comparison  with  the  most  perfect 
productions  of  Christian  Art  in  Venice." — Rio. 

This  beautiful  picture  is  framed  in  an  altar  by  Leopardi. 

1,rd  Altar.     Sansovino .     Statue  of  the  Madonna 

Tomb  of  Girolamo  Gavazza,  ambassador  from  the  Republic  to  Spain, 
1681. 

^h  Altar.     Daniel  Vandyke.     Martyrdom  of  S.  Lorenzo. 

On  right  wall  near  the  end.     Palina  Vecchio.      A  group  of  saints. 

"  St.  Vincent  stands  in  the  centre  on  a  kind  of  platform  :  he  is  habited 
in  the  deacon's  robe,  here  of  a  deep  glowing  red,  richly  embroidered; 
he  holds  the  palm,  and  has  no  other  attribute  ;  the  face  is  divinely 
beautiful — mild,  refined,  and  elevated  to  a  degree  uncommon  in  the 
Venetian  school.  Four  saints  stand  around  him  ;  St.  Helen  with  her 
cross,  a  Dominican  (I  think  St.  Vincent  Ferrer),  a  pope,  and  a  martyr- 


112  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

saint  whom  I  cannot  name.     This  picture  is  almost,  if  not  quite,  equal 
to  the  famous  S.  Barbara  of  the  same  artist." — Jameson's  Sacred  Art, 

"•  553- 

In  Sacristy.  Gaspare  Morazzone,  The  head  of  S.  Christopher  (be- 
cause his  knee-cap  is  a  relic  over  one  of  the  altars).  A  curious  set  of 
pictures  of  the  saints  of  Venice  are  preserved  here.  Over  the  door  is 
a  Madonna  by  Guru,  de  Sanctis,  and  in  the  centre  of  the  pavement  his 
tomb . 

Chapel  right  of  Higk  Altar.  Gir.  Santa  Croce.  SS.  Augustine  and 
Jerome. 

Apse.  Flat  tomb  of  Gir.  Grimani,  1512.  Tintoret,  Worship  of 
the  Golden  Calf. 

*Id.     The  Last  Judgment. 

"By  Tintoret  only  has  this  unimaginable  event  been  grappled  with 
in  its  verity ;  not  typically  nor  symbolically,  but  as  they  may  see  it  who 
shall  not  sleep,  but  be  changed.  Only  one  traditional  circumstance  he 
has  received  with  Dante  and  Michael  Angelo,  the  Boat  of  the  Con- 
demned ;  but  the  impetuosity  of  his  mind  bursts  out  even  in  the  adop- 
tion of  this  image  ;  he  has  not  stopped  at  the  scowling  ferry-man  of  the 
one,  nor  at  the  sweeping  blow  and  demon-dragging  of  the  other,  but, 
seized  Hylas-Iike  by  the  limbs,  and  tearing  up  the  earth  in  his  agony, 
the  victim  is  lashed  into  his  destruction  ;  nor  is  it  the  sluggish  Lethe, 
or  the  fiery  lake  that  bears  the  cursed  vessel,  but  the  oceans  of  the 
earth,  and  the  waters  of  the  firmament  gathered  into  one  white,  ghastly 
cataract ;  the  river  of  the  wrath  of  God,  roaring  down  into  the  gulph 
where  the  world  has  melted  with  its  fervent  heat,  choked  with  the  ruin 
of  nations,  and  the  limbi  of  its  corpses  tossed  out  of  its  whirling,  like 
water-wheels.  Bat-like,  out  of  the  holes  and  caverns  and  shadows  of 
the  earth,  the  bones  gather,  and  the  clay  heaps  heave,  rattling  and 
adhering  into  half  kneaded  anatomies,  that  crawl,  and  startle,  and 
struggle  up  among  the  putrid  weeds,  with  the  clay  clinging  to  their 
clotted  hair,  and  their  heavy  eyes  sealed  by  the  earth  darkness  yet,  like 
his  of  old  who  went  his  way  unseeing  to  the  Siloam  Pool ;  shaking  oflf 
one  by  one  the  dreams  of  the  prison-house,  hardly  hearing  the  clangor 
of  the  trumpets  of  the  armies  of  God,  blinded  yet  more,  as  they  awake, 
by  the  white  light  of  the  new  Heaven,  until  the  great  vortex  of  the  four 
winds  bear  up  their  bodies  to  the  judgment-seat :  the  firmament  is  all 
full  of  them,  a  very  dust  of  human  souls,  that  drifts,  and  floats,  and  falls 
in  the  interminable,  inevitable  light ;  the  light  clouds  are  darkened  with 
them  as  with  thick  snow,  currents  of  atom  life  in  the  arteries  of  heaven, 
now  soaring  up  slowly,  and  higher  and  higher  still,  till  the  eye  and  the 
thought  can  follow  no  farther,  borne  up,  wingless,  by  their  inward  faith 


LA  MADONNA  DEL  ORTO.  113 

and  by  the  angel  powers  invisible,  now  hurled  in  countless  drifts  of 
horror  before  the  breath  of  their  condemnation." — Ruskin,  Modem 
Painters,  ii.  172. 

Raima  Gicrjane.  The  Annunciation— all  the  other  pictures  by  Tin- 
toretto. 

Left  Aisle,  2nd  Chapel.      Tintoret.     The  Miracle  of  S.  Agnes. 

Before  the  Altar.  Tomb  of  Vincenzo  Contarini,  Ambassador  of  the  Re- 
public to  England.     The  two  Contarini  busts  are  by  Aless.  Vittoria. 

*T,rd  Chapel.  D.  Tintoret.  Presentation  of  the  Virgin.  The  stair- 
case introduced  in  this  picture  is  thoroughly  Venetian,  and  the  effect  of 
the  figures  in  shadow  admirable. 

Raima  Giovane.     The  Crucifixion. 

a^h  Chapel.     Dom.  Tintoretto.     The  Nativity. 

ijth  Chapel.  Giov.  Bellini.  Madonna  and  Child,  painted  with  a  rich 
background  of  gilt  stamped  leather.  The  head  of  the  Madonna  is  the 
only  beautiful  part  of  this  picture,  which  is  in  the  first  manner  of  the 
artist. 

Lorenzo  Lotto.     Pieta. 

Opposite  this  church  is  a  Palace  with  a  curious  reHef  of 
a  camel  and  a  man  leading  it. 

Artists  will  not  fail  to  admire  the  expanse  of  the  shallow 
lagoon  behind  the  Madonna  del  Orto. 

"Devant  cette  plaine  de  lumiere,  toutes  les  contrarietes,  tons  les 
mecomptes  s'oublient.  On  ne  se  lasse  pas  de  la  mer,  de  I'horizon  in- 
fini,  des  petites  bandes  lointaines  de  terre  qui  emergent  sous  une  verdure 
douteuse.  Un  vent  leger  ride  les  flaques  luisantes,  et  les  petites  ondulations 
viennent  mourir  a  chaque  instant  sur  le  sable  uni.  Le  soleil  couchant  pose 
sur  elles  des  teintes  pourprees  que  le  renflement  de  I'onde  tantot  assombrit, 
tantot  fait  chatoyer.  Dans  ce  mouvement  continu,  tous  les  tons  se  trans- 
ferment  et  se  fondent.  Les  fonds  noiratres  ou  couleur  de  brique  sont 
bleuis  ou  verdis  par  la  mer  qui  les  couvre ;  selon  les  aspects  du  ciel, 
I'eau  change  elle-meme,  et  tout  cela  se  mele  parmi  des  ruissellements  de 
lumiere,  sous  des  semis  d'or  qui  paillettent  les  petits  flots,  sous  des  tor- 
tillons  d'argent  qui  frangent  les  cretes  de  I'eau  tournoyante,  sous  de 
larges  lueurs  et  des  eclairs  subits  que  la  parol  d'un  ondoiement  renvoie. 
Le  domaine  et  les  habitudes  de  I'oeil  sont  transformes  et  renouveles.  Le 
sens  de  la  vision  rencontre  un  autre  monde.  Au  lieu  des  teintes  fortes, 
nettes,  seches  des  terrains  solides,  c'est  un  miroitement,  un  amollissement, 
un  eclat  incessant  de  teintes  fondues  qui  font  un  second  ciel  aussi  lumi- 
neux,  mais  plus  divers,  plus  changeant,  plus  riche  et  plus  intense  que 
VOL.    II.  8 


114  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

I'autre,  forme  de  tons  superposes  dont  ralliance  est  une  harmonie." — 
Taitie. 

Either  by  the  lagoon,  or  by  the  Grand  Canal,  we  may 
reach  the  Canareggio,  at  the  east  end  of  which  is  the  Church 
of  S.  Giobbe,  built  1462 — 147 1,  and  very  rich  in  ornament. 

*'  The  portal  is  surmounted  by  a  round  arch,  and  has  a  broad  archi- 
trave, which  rests  upon  two  Corinthian  pilasters  covered  with  the  most 
delicately-sculptured  convolvulus  plants,  upon  whose  winding  stems  sit 
all  but  living  birds.  The  architrave  is  adorned  with  symmetrically- 
arranged  leaf- work ;  the  capitals  of  the  pilasters  are  composed  of  acan- 
thus leaves  and  ox-skulls,  from  whose  horns  hang  festoons  which  are 
twined  about  the  flower-filled  volutes ;  and  the  cornice  and  archivolt  are 
enriched  with  ardiitectm"al  details  borrowed  from  the  antique.  Statuettes 
of  SS.  Francis,  Bernardino  of  Siena,  and  a  bishop  are  placed  on  the  arch 
and  at  the  ends  of  the  entablature,  and  the  lunette  is  filled  with  a  bas- 
relief  representing  SS.  Francis  and  Giobbe  kneeling  in  prayer  on  either 
side  of  a  little  mount,  upon  which  rays  of  light  descend  from  heaven. 
The  more  we  regard  these  sculptures,  the  more  we  are  convinced  that 
they  are  the  work  of  sevei-al  hands;  if  the  arabesques  and  architecture  of 
the  door,  and  perhaps  the  statuettes,  are  by  Pietro,  the  bas-relief,  which 
is  dry  and  precise  in  its  style  and  forms,  can  scarcely  be  his." — Perkin's 
Italian  Sculptors. 

Entering  the  church  we  may  observe  the  most  beautiful 
angels  by  the  Lombardi  in  the  pendentives  of  the  cupola ; 
then — 

4//^  Altar.  Patis  Bordone.  S.  Andrewon  a  pedestal,  with  SS.  Ni- 
cholas and  Peter. 

Ante-Sacristy.     Gir.  Scnwldo,  1540.     The  Nativity. 

Sacristy.     Altar.     Vivarini.     The  Annunciation,  %vith  saints. 

G.  Bellini.     Virgin  and  Child  with  SS.  J.  Baptist 

and  Catherine. 
Portrait  of  Doge  Moro. 
Chancel.     Beautiful  arch  and  friezes  of  sculpture  erected  by  Doge 
Moro  in  1462.     In  the  centre  his  tomb  of  1470. 
Left  Aisle,  ^h  Chapel.     Majolica  roof. 

Close  to  this  church  is  the  entrance  of  the  very  pretty 
Orto  Botanico. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

WESTERN  VENICE. 

In  a  Gondola  to — 

S.  Trovaso,  S.  Sebastiano,  the  Carmine,  S.  Pantaleone,  S.  Andrea, 
S.  Nicoli  da  Tolentino,  S.  Rocco,  the  Frari,  S.  Giacomo  dell'  Orio,  S. 
Maria  Mater  Domini,  S.  Cassiano,  Palazzo  Cappello,  S.  Aponal,  S. 
Polo. 

Those  who  select  should  see  S.  Sebastiano,  the  Carmine,  S.  Rocco, 
and  the  Frari. 

A  WIDE  canal  on  the  left,  beyond  the  Academy,  leads 
to  the  Church  of  S.  Trovaso  (or  SS.  Gervasio  e  Pro- 
tasio),  which,  with  its  campanile  and  the  old  brown  ware- 
houses and  brilliant  acacias  surrounding  it,  forms  a  subject 
which  has  often  been  painted.     It  contains  : 

Right  Transept.     Altar  of  the  Lomiardi,  1501,  with  reliefs  of  Angels. 

*Falma  Vecckio.     Madonna  and  Child. 
Chapel,  Right  of  High  Altar.     Doni.  Tintoretto.     The  Crucifixion. 

Pahna  Vecchio.     Christ  bound. 
Left  of  High  Altar.      Tintoretto.     The  temptation  of  S.  Anthony. 

"  A  carefully  finished  picture,  but  marvellously  temperate  and 
quiet  in  treatment,  especially  considering  the  subject,  which  one 
would  have  imagined  likely  to  inspire  the  painter  with  one  of  his  most 
fantastic  visions.  As  if  on  purpose  to  disappoint  us,  both  the  effect,  and 
the  conception  of  the  figures,  are  perfectly  quiet,  and  appear  the  result 
much  more  of  careful  study  than  of  vigorous  imagination.  The  effect  is 
one  of  plain  daylight  ;  there  are  a  few  clouds  drifting  in  the  distance,  but 
with  no  wildness  in  them,  nor  is  there  any  energy  or  heat  in  the  flames 
which  mantle  about  the  waist  of  one  of  the  figures.     But  for  the  noble 


Ii6  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

M'orkmanship,  we  might  almost  fancy  it  the  production  of  a  modem 
academy  ;  yet  as  we  begin  to  read  the  picture,  the  painter's  mind  be- 
comes felt.  S.  Anthony  is  surrounded  by  four  figures,  one  of  which 
only  has  the  form  of  a  demon,  and  he  is  in  the  background,  engaged  in  no 
more  terrific  act  of  violence  towards  S.  Anthony,  than  endeavouring  to 
pull  off  his  mantle ;  he  has,  however,  a  scourge  over  his  shoulder,  but 
this  is  probably  intended  for  S.  Anthony's  weapon  of  self-discipline, 
which  the  fiend,  with  a  very  Protestant  turn  of  mind,  is  carrying  off. 
A  broken  staff",  with  a  bell  hanging  to  it,  at  the  saint's  feet,  also  ex- 
presses his  interrupted  devotion.  The  three  other  figures  beside  him 
are  bent  on  more  cunning  mischief ;  the  woman  on  the  left  is  one  of 
Tintoret's  best  portraits  of  a  young  and  bright-eyed  Venetian  beauty. 
It  is  curious  that  he  should  have  given  so  attractive  a  countenance  to  a 
type  apparently  of  the  temptation  to  violate  the  vow  of  poverty,  for  this 
woman  places  one  hand  in  a  vase  full  of  coins,  and  shakes  golden  chains 
with  the  other.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  saint,  another  woman, 
admirably  painted,  but  of  a  far  less  attractive  countenance,  is  a  type  of 
the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  yet  there  is  nothing  gross  or  immodest  in  her  dress 
or  gesture.  She  appears  to  have  been  baffled,  and  for  the  f)resent  to 
have  given  up  addressing  the  saint :  she  lays  one  hand  upon  her  breast, 
and  might  be  taken  for  a  very  respectable  person,  but  that  there  are 
flames  playing  about  her  loins.  A  recumbent  figure  on  the  ground  is  of 
a  less  intelligible  character,  but  may  perhaps  be  meant  for  Indolence  ; 
at  all  events,  he  has  torn  the  saint's  book  to  pieces." — Riiskin,  Stones 
of  Ve7ticc,  iii. 

Left  Transept.     Tintoretto.     Last  Supper. 

Turning  to  the  left  from  this  church,  is  the  Campo  deir 
Angela  Raffaello,  with  a  beautiful  well  by  Marco  Arian,  1349. 
Opposite  the  Church  of  S.  Rajfaello  (of  16 18),  is  the  Palazzo 
Cicogna,  a  beautiful  work  of  the  14th  century. 

"The  whole  design  of  this  building  is  very  irregular:  a  detached 
shaft  at  one  angle  supports  a  portion  of  the  house  which  overhangs  and 
forms  a  sort  of  open  passage-way  ;  to  the  right  of  this  opening  is  a  four- 
light  shafted  window,  and  then  a  plain  wall  pierced  with  two  windows, 
each  of  a  single  ogee  trefoiled  light.  The  upper  story  has  two  single 
windows  over  the  others,  whilst  over  the  larger  windows  and  the 
passage-way  is  a  large  window  conspicuous  from  its  size  and  the  peculi- 
arity of  its  tracery.  It  is  of  six  lights  divided  by  very  good  shafts,  and 
properly  arched  with  pure  and  good  trefoiled  arches  ;  above  these,  and 


3-.  MARIA  DEL  CARMINE.  117 

mclosed  within  the  perpetual  indented  or  billeted  string-course,  is  a  com- 
plicated system  of  intersecting  circles  pierced  at  regular  inter\'als  with 
quatrefoils.  The  whole  elevation  is  finished  with  a  sliallow  cornice  sup- 
ported upon  corbels." — Street. 

In  this  district,  near  the  Ponte  Briati,  is  the  Palazzo 
Zenolfio,  a  handsome  edifice  of  the  last  century,  by  A?tionio 
Gasperi. 

Passing  the  Palazzo  Foscarini,  we  reach  the  Church  of  S. 
Maria  del  Carmine,  built  1208 — 1348,  but  modernised.  It 
contains  : 

*  Right,  iiid  Altar.     Cima  da  Conegliano.     The  Nativity. 

"The  Virgin  is  kneeling  in  an  attitude  of  the  most  graceful  humility 
before  the  crib  in  which  the  Child  is  lying.  On  the  right  is  Tobit,  con- 
ducted by  a  beautiful  angel ;  on  the  left,  Joseph  and  two  devout  shep- 
herds ;  fiirther  in  the  picture  are  S.  Helen  and  S,  Catherine  in  conversa- 
tion. The  background  consists  of  a  steep  rock  overiiung  with  trees, 
with  a  rich  evening  landscape,  with  towns  in  the  distance." — Kiigler. 

"The  landscape  is  delicious.  The  subject  is  evidently  borrowed  from 
the  Umbrian  school ;  and  it  is  the  more  interesting  to  discover  this 
sympathy,  because  the  total  absence  of  pagan  or  mythological  subjects 
in  the  works  of  Cima  affords  the  strongest  confirmation  of  it" — Rio. 

/^h  Altar.     Tomb  of  Andrea  Civriani,  1572. 

High  Altar.     Tintoretto.     Presentation  in  the  Temple. 

Left  {returning),  ^rd  Altar.  Lorenzo  Lotto,  1520.  S.  Nicholas  inglory. 

The  picturesque  side  porch  with  a  canopy  is  said  to  have 
been  brought  from  Aquileja.  At  the  corner,  near  the  west 
front  of  the  church,  is  the  so-called  house  of  Othello,  with  a 
statue,  facing  the  canal,  which  is  said  to  represent  him.  In 
the  neighbouring  Campo  S.  Margherita  is  a  beautiful  door 
with  angels, — one  in  benediction,  the  other  holding  a  shield. 

Hence  we  coast  the  Fondamenta  delle  Zattere.  The 
neighbouring  Church  of  S.  Spirito  contains  a  monument  of 
the  Paruta  family,  of  the  17th  century. 


Ii8  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  Church  of  S.  Sebastiano  is  a  good  specimen  of  1506 — 
1548,  hy  F.  da  Castiglione  and  A.  Scarpignatio.  It  iis  the 
burial-place  of  Paul  Veronese,  and  contains  some  of  his 
best  works. 

Right,  1st  Altar.  Titian.  S.  Nicholas  (executed  in  the  artist's 
86th  year.) 

2nd  Altar.     Paul  Verotiese.     Madonna. 

yd  Altar.     Tommaso  Lotnbardo.     Statue  of  the  Madonna. 

4//5  Altar.     Paul  Veronese.     The  Crucifixion  and  the  three  Maries. 

yacopo  Sansflvino,  1556.     Tomb  of  Livius  Podakataros  of  Cyprus. 

High  Altar.  Paul  Veronese,  1558.  Madonna  and  Saints.  (Right) 
The  martyrdom  of  S.  Sebastian.  (Left)  Martyrdom  of  SS.  Mark  and 
Marcellinus. 

The  Organ  has  a  picture  of  the  Purification  by  Paid  Veronese  on  its 
outer  shutters,  and  of  the  Healing  of  the  Paralytic  witliin.  Beneath  is 
the  Adoration  of  the  Sliepherds.  On  the  right  is  a  bust  of  P.  Veronese, 
by  C.  Bozzetti,  and  beneath  it  the  grave  of  the  painter,  who  died, 
April  19th,  1558. 

Left  aisle,  ifh  Chapel.  Alessandro  Vittoria.  Bust  of  M.  Ant.  Gri- 
mani,  1546. 

2nd  Altar.     Sckiavone.     The  Disciples  of  Emmaus. 

yd  Altar.     Paul  Veronese.     The  Baptism  in  the  Jordan. 

The  Ceiling  is  entirely  by  Paul  Veronese. 

The  Sacristy  has  a  ceiling  of  the  Coronation  of  the  Virgin,  ^vith  the 
four  Evangelists,  by  P.  Veronese,  and  is  almost  entirely  surrounded  by 
pictures  of  Bonifazio — Jacob's  Dream,  the  Passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  the 
Nativity,  the  Sacrifice  of  Isaac,  the  Baptism  in  Jordan,  the  Agony  ir» 
the  Garden,  the  Resurrection,  S.  Sebastiano,  the  Crucifixion,  S. 
Eustachio. 

From  the  Campo  S.  Margherita,  it  is  only  a  fe\Y  steps, 

across  a  canal-bridge,  to  the  Church  of  S.  Pantaleone  (the 

patron  of  physicians),  built  1668 — 1675  hy  Francesco  Comino. 

It  contains  : 

Right,  2nd  Chapel.  Paul  Veronese.  The  Healing  of  a  boy  by  S. 
Pantaleone. 

Left  of  High  Altar.  Giovanni  and  Antonio  da  Murano,  l^^.  Coro- 
nation of  the  Virgin — an  important  Gothic  triptych.  Of  the  same  period 
is  a  richly  decorated  altai; 


S.  ANDREA,  SCUOLA  Dl  S.  ROCCO.  119 

"  This  church  is  particularly  interesting  to  those  who  love  to  study 
Venetian  character.  It  is  the  parish  church  of  a  dense  and  populous 
neighbourhood,  and  I  used  to  go  there  more  for  the  sake  of  looking  at 
the  people — the  picturesque  mothers  with  their  infants,  the  little  children 
reciting  their  catechism—  tlian  to  study  art  and  pictures.  The  walls  are 
covered  with  the  beneficent  actions  of  the  patron  saint,  and  with  scrip- 
tural incidents  which  have  reference  to  the  healing  art.  None  of  these, 
however,  are  particularly  good." — Jameson' i  Sacred  Art,  ii.  568. 

Ill  the  Catapiello  Angaran  near  this,  is  a  curious  stone 
medallion  in  a  wall,  with  the  portrait  of  an  eastern  emperor. 
From  S.  Pantaleone,  a  long  canal  leads  to  the  lonely  Church 
cf  S.  A?idrea,  which  is  worth  visiting  for  the  sake  of  its 
grass-grown  Cafnpo,  open  to  the  lagoon  and  Alps,  though 
the  view  is  rather  spoilt  by  the  railway  bridge.  The  church 
itself,  built  1475,  is  unimportant  Over  the  door  is  a 
curious  Renaissance  sculpture  of  S.  Peter  walking  on  the 
water  ;  worthy  of  observation  are  its  distant  landscape,  and 
the  oars  of  an  existing  gondola  floating  by  S.  Peter's  boat. 
Within  are : — 

Paul  Veronese.     S.  Jerome. 
Paris  Bordoiu.     S.  Augustine. 

Returning,  we  may  visit  the  Church  of  S.  Nicolo  da  To- 
ktitino,  which  contains  pictures  by  Bonifazio  and  Palma 
Giovane,  but  nothing  of  much  importance.  Behind  this  are 
the  Papadopou  Gardens,  rich  in  curious  plants.  They  oc- 
cupy the  site  of  a  church  of  S.  Croce,  built  in  774. 

We  should  next  land  at  the  steps  near  the  Sacola  di 
Rocco,  which  was  one  of  five  Scuole,  which  were  not  used 
for  educational  purposes,  but  were  centres  for  the  differ- 
ent charitable  associations  for  fulfilling  all  the  "  Temporal 
Works  of  Mercy  "  which  abounded  in  ancient  Venice. 

S.  Rocco  has  perhaps  the  richest  and  most  interesting  of 
these  Scuole,  and  its  brotherhood  were  the  chief  patrons  of 


120  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Tintoret,  who  worked  here  for  i8  years.  The  buildings 
were  begun  in  151 7  by  Bai-tolomeo  Bon,  and  finished  in 
1550  by  Antonio  Scarpagnino,  The  fa9ade,  coated  with 
marbles,  is  a  very  rich  specimen  of  Renaissance  decoration. 

"  In  the  year  1485  the  Venetians,  who  from  their  commerce  with  the 
Levant  were  continually  exposed  to  the  visitation  of  the  plagiie,  deter- 
mined to  possess  themselves  of  the  relics  of  St.  Roch.  A  kind  of  holy 
alliance  was  formed  to  commit  this  pious  robbery.  The  conspirators 
sailed  to  Montpelier,  under  pretence  of  performing  a  pilgrimage,  and 
carried  off  the  body  of  the  saint,  with  which  they  returned  to  Venice, 
and  were  received  by  the  doge,  the  senate,  and  tlie  clergy,  and  all  the 
people,  with  inexpressible  joy.  The  magnificent  church  of  St.  Roch.  was 
built  to  receive  the  relics  of  the  saint  by  a  community  already  formed  im- 
der  his  auspices  for  the  purpose  of  tending  the  sick  and  poor,  and  par- 
ticularly those  who  were  stricken  by  infectious  disorders,  in  which  many 
of  the  chief  nobility  were  proud  to  enrol  themselves.  Such  was  the 
origin  of  the  famous  Scuoia  di  San  Rocca  at  Venice,  in  the  decoration  of 
which  Tintoretto  and  his  scholars  lavished  their  utmost  skill." — Jame- 
son's Sacred  Ai'ty  ii.  473. 

The  interior  is  a  perfect  gallery  of  the  works  of  Jacopo 
Thitordto,  whose  real  name  was  Robusii,  and  who  received 
his  nickname  from  the  trade  of  his  father — a  dyer,  Ttntore. 
He  was  bom  in  151 2,  and,  showing  an  extraordinary  aptitude 
for  art,  was  placed  in  the  studio  of  Titian,  who,  however, 
whether  from  his  own  jealousy,  or  from  the  inattention  of 
his  pupil,  expelled  him  from  his  academy,  saying  that  he 
"  would  never  be  anything  but  a  dauber."  Without  losing 
heart,  however,  Tintoret  opened  a  studio  of  his  own,  in- 
scribing on  its  wall,  as  the  guiding  principle  of  his  work — 
"  II  disegno  di  Michel  Angelo  ;  il  colorito  di  Tiziano."  His 
wonderful  conceptions  and  the  immense  amount  of  story  in 
his  pictures — for  he  frequently  drew  without  designs,  com- 
posing as  he  went  on  with  his  picture — atone  for  his  frequent 
coarseness  of  expression  and  violence  of  treatment. 


SCUOLA  DI  S.  ROCCO.  I2i 

The  Lower  Hall  oi  the  Scuola,  by  Girolamo  CamJ>agna, 
which  is  closed  by  a  statue  of  S.  Roch,  has  eight  large  pic- 
tures by  Tintord. 

1.  The  Annunciation. 

"  Not  in  meek  reception  of  the  adoring  messenger,  but  startled  by  the 
rush  of  his  horizontal  and  rattling  wings,  the  Virgin  sits,  not  in  the  quiet 
loggia,  not  by  the  green  pasture  of  the  restored  soul,  but  houseless,  un- 
der the  shelter  of  a  palace  vestibule,  ruined  and  abandoned,  with  the 
noise  of  the  axe  and  hammer  in  her  ears,  and  the  tumult  of  a  city  round 
about  her  desolation.  The  spectator  turns  away  at  first,  revolted,  from 
the  central  object  of  the  picture  forced  painfully  and  coarsely  forward,  a 
mass  of  shattered  brickwork,  with  the  plaster  mildewed  away  from  it, 
and  the  mortar  mouldering  from  its  seams  ;  and  if  he  looks  again,  either 
at  this  or  at  the  carpenter's  tools  beneath  it,  will  perhaps  see  in  the  one 
and  the  other,  nothing  more  than  such  a  study  of  scene  as  Tintoret  could 
but  too  easily  obtain  among  the  ruins  of  his  own  Venice,  chosen  to  give 
a  coarse  explanation  of  the  calling  and  the  condition  of  the  husband  of 
Mary.  But  there  is  more  meant  than  this.  When  he  looks  at  the  com- 
position of  the  picture,  he  will  find  the  whole  symmetry  of  it  depending 
on  a  narrow  line  of  light,  the  edge  of  a  carpenter's  square,  which  con- 
nects these  unused  tools  with  an  object  at  the  top  of  the  brickwork,  a 
white  stone,  four  square,  the  corner-stone  of  the  old  edifice,  the  base  of 
the  supporting  column.  This,  I  think,  sufficiently  explains  the  typical 
character  of  the  whole.  The  ruined  house  is  the  Jewish  dispensation  ; 
that  obscurely  arising  in  the  dawning  of  the  sky  is  the  Christian  ;  but 
the  corner-stone  of  the  old  building  remains,  though  the  builders'  tools 
lie  idle  beside  it,  and  the  stone  which  the  builders  refused  is  become  the 
Headstone  of  the  Comer." — Ruskin,  Modern  Painters,  ii.  165. 

2.  The  Adoration  of  the  Magi. 

"  In  Tintoret's  adoration  of  the  Magi,  the  Madonna  is  not  an  en- 
throned queen,  but  a  fair  girl,  full  of  simplicity  and  almost  childish 
sweetness.  To  her  are  opposed  (as  Magi)  two  of  the  noblest  and  most 
thoughtful  of  the  Venetian  senators  in  extreme  old  age, — the  utmost 
manly  dignity  in  its  decline,  being  set  beside  the  utmost  feminine  sim- 
plicity in  its  dawn.  The  steep  foreheads  and  refined  features  of  the 
nobles  are,  again,  opposed  to  the  head  of  a  negro  servant,  and  of  an 
Indian,  both,  however,  noble  of  their  kind.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
picture,  the  delicacy  of  the  Madonna  is  further  enhanced  by  a  largely- 
made  farm-servant,  leaning  on  a  basket.  All  these  figures  are  in  repose  : 
outside,  the  troop  of  the  attendants  of  the  Magi  is  seen  coming  up  at  the 
gallop. 


122  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

"  I  bring  forward  this  picture,  not  as  an  example  of  the  ideal  in  concep- 
tion of  religious  subject,  but  of  the  general  ideal  treatment  of  the  human 
form ;  in  which  the  peculiarity  is,  that  the  beauty  of  each  figure  is  dis- 
played to  the  utmost,  while  yet,  taken  separately,  the  Madonna  is  an 
unaltered  portrait  of  a  Venetian  girl,  the  Magi  an  unaltered  Venetian 
senator,  and  the  figure  with  the  basket,  an  unaltered  market-woman  of 
Mestre." — Ruskin,  Modern  Paiytters,  iii.  85. 

3.  The  Flight  into  Egypt. 

4.  The  Massacre  of  the  Innocents. 

"  Knowing,  or  feeling,  that  the  expression  of  the  human  face  was,  in 
such  circumstances,  not  to  be  rendered,  and  that  the  effort  could  only 
end  in  an  ugly  falsehood,  Tintoret  denies  himself  all  aid  from  the 
features,  he  feels  that  if  he  is  to  place  himself  or  us  in  the  midst  of  that 
maddened  multitude,  there  can  be  no  time  allowed  for  watching  expres- 
sion. Still  less  does  he  depend  on  details  of  murder  or  ghastliness  of 
death  ;  there  is  no  blood,  no  stabbing,  or  cutting,  but  there  is  an  awful 
substitute  for  these  in  the  chiaroscuro.  The  scene  is  the  outer  vestibule 
of  a  palace,  the  slippery  marble  floor  is  fearfully  barred  across  by  san- 
guine shadows,  so  that  our  eyes  seem  to  become  blood-shot  and  strained 
with  strange  horror  and  deadly  vision ;  a  lake  of  life  before  them,  like 
the  burning  sun  of  the  doomed  Moabite  on  the  water  that  came  by  way 
of  Edom  :  a  huge  flight  of  stairs,  without  parapet,  descends  on  the  left  ; 
down  this  rush  a  crowd  of  women  mixed  with  the  murderers  ;  the  child 
in  the  arms  of  one  has  been  seized  by  the  limbs,  she  hurls  herself  over 
the  edge,  and  falls  head  downzvards,  dragging  the  child  out  of  the  grasp  by 
her  weight ; — she  will  be  dashed  dead  in  a  second  ; — close  to  us  is  the 
great  struggle ;  a  heap  of  the  mothers  entangled  in  one  mortal  writhe 
with  each  other  and  the  swoi-ds,  one  of  the  murderers  dashed  down  and 
crushed  beneath  them,  the  sword  of  another  caught  by  the  blade,  and 
dragged  at  by  a  woman's  naked  hand  ;  the  youngest  and  fairest  of  the 
Vvomen,  her  child  just  torn  away  from  a  death  grasp,  and  clasped  to  her 
breast  with  the  grip  of  a  steel  vice,  falls  backwards,  helplessly  over  the 
heap,  right  on  the  sword  points  ;  all  knit  together  and  hurled  down  in 
one  hopeless,  frenzied,  furious  abandonment  of  body  and  soul  in  the 
eff'ort  to  save.  Far  back,  at  the  bottom  of  the  stairs,  there  is  something 
in  the  shadow  like  a  heap  of  clothes.  It  is  a  woman,  sitting  quiet — 
quite  quiet — still  as  any  stone ;  she  looks  down  steadfastly  on  her  dead 
child,  laid  along  on  the  floor  before  her,  and  her  hand  is  pressed  softly 
upon  her  brow. " — Ruskin,  Modern  Painters,  ii.  1 70. 

5.  S.  Mary  Magdalen. 

6.  S.  Mary  of  Egypt. 


SCUOLA  DI  S.  ROCCO.  123 

7.  The  Presentation  in  the  Temple. 

8.  The  Assumption  of  the  Virgin. 

A  magnificent  staircase  (observe  the  admirable  but  simple 
ornament  on  the  steps)  has,  on  its  landing  : 

Titian.     Annunciation. 
Tintord,     The  Salutation. 

The  Upper  Sala  where  the  brotherhood  used  to  assemble 
has  an  altar  with  statues  of  the  Baptist  and  S.  Sebastian  by 
G.  Campagna,  and  a  picture  of  S.  Koch  in  glory  by  Tintoret. 
The  seven  compartments  of  the  ceiling  are  by  Ttntoret.  On 
the  oak  pannelling  are  20  subjects  from  the  life  of  S.  Roch, 
carved  by  Giovanni  Marchiori  and  his  pupils,  in  the  last 
century.     The  pictures,  beginning  from  the  right,  are  : — 

The  Nativity. — The  Holy  Family  are  represented  as  in  a  loft  above  a 
stable. 

The  Baptism  in  Jordan. 

"  The  river  flows  fiercely  under  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock.  From 
its  opposite  shore,  thickets  of  close,  gloomy  foliage  rise  against  the  roll- 
ing chasm  of  heaven  through  which  breaks  the  brightness  of  the  descend- 
ing Spirit.  Across  these,  dividing  them  asunder,  is  stretched  a  hori- 
zontal floor  of  flaky  cloud,  on  which  stand  the  hosts  of  heaven.  Christ 
kneels  upon  the  water,  and  does  not  sink  ;  the  figure  of  S.  John  is 
indistinct,  but  close  behind  his  raised  right  arm  there  is  a  spectre  in  the 
black  shade  ;  the  Fiend,  harpy  shaped,  hardly  seen,  glares  down  upon 
Christ  with  eyes  of  fire,  waiting  his  time.  Beneath  this  figure  there 
comes  out  of  the  mist  a  dark  hand,  the  aitn  unseen,  extended  to  a  net  in 
the  river,  the  spars  of  which  are  in  the  shape  of  a  cross.  Behind  this 
the  roots  and  under  stems  of  the  trees  are  cut  away  by  the  cloud,  and 
beneath  it,  and  through  them,  is  seen  a  vision  of  wild,  melancholy, 
boundless  light  ;  the  sweep  of  the  desert,  and  the  figure  of  Christ  is  seen 
therein  alone,  ^^^th  his  arms  lifted  up  as  if  in  supplication  or  ecstasy, 
borne  of  the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness  to  be  tempted  of  the  Devil. 

"There  are  many  circumstances  which  combine  to  give  to  this  noble 
work  a  more  than  usually  imaginative  character.  The  symbolical  use  of 
the  net,  which  is  the  cross  net  still  used  constantly  in  the  canals  of 
Venice,  and  common  throughout  Italy,  is  of  the  same  character  as  that 


124  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

of  the  carpenter's  tools  in  the  Annunciation  ;  but  the  introduction  of  the 
spectral  figure  is  of  bolder  reach,  and  yet  more,  that  vision  of  the  after 
temptation  which  is  expressly  indicated  as  a  subject  of  thought  rather 
than  of  sight,  because  it  is  in  a  part  of  the  scene,  which  mfact  must  have 
been  occupied  by  the  trunks  of  the  trees  whose  tops  are  seen  above ;  and 
another  circumstance  completes  the  mystic  character  of  the  whole,  that 
the  flaky  clouds  which  support  the  angelic  hosts  take  on  the  right,  where 
the  light  first  falls  upon  them,  the  shape  of  the  head  of  a  fish,  the  well- 
known  type  both  of  the  baptismal  sacrament,  and  of  Christ." — Ruskin, 
Modern  Painters,  ii.  i68. 

The  Resurrection. 

The  Agony  in  the  Garden. 

The  Last  Supper. 

On  the  left  are  : — 

The  Miracle  of  the  Loaves  and  Fishes. 

The  Resurrection  of  Lazarus. 

The  Ascension. 

The  Pool  of  Bethesda. 

The  Temptation. 

The  Portrait  of  the  Artist  at  the  age  of  66. 

In  the  adjoining  Sala  dell'  Albergo,  so  called  because  here 
the  guests  of  the  brotherhood  were  received,  is  the  most 
celebrated  work  of  Tintoret. 

The  Crucifixion. 

"  Tintoret  here,  as  in  all  other  cases,  penetrating  into  the  root  and 
deep  places  of  his  subject,  despising  all  outward  and  bodily  appearances 
of  pain,  and  seeking  for  some  means  of  expressing,  not  the  rack  of  nerve 
or  sinew,  but  the  fainting  of  the  deserted  Son  of  God  before  his  Eloi 
cry  ;  and  yet  feeling  himself  utterly  unequal  to  the  expression  of  this  by 
the  countenance,  has,  on  the  one  hand,  filled  his  picture  with  such 
various  and  impetuous  muscular  exertion  that  the  body  of  the  Crucified 
is,  by  comparison,  in  perfect  repose,  and,  on  the  other,  has  cast  the 
countenance  altogether  into  shade.  But  the  Agony  is  told  by  this,  and 
by  this  only  ;  that,  though  there  yet  remains  a  chasm  of  light  on  the 
mountain  horizon,  where  the  earthquake  darkness  closes  upon  the  day, 
the  broad  and  sunlike  glory  about  the  head  of  the  Redeemer  has 
become  wan,  and  oj  the  colour  of  ashes. 

"  But  the  great  painter  felt  he  had  something  more  to  do  yet.     Not 


S.  ROCCO.     THE  FRART.  12$ 

only  that  Agony  of  the  Crucified,  but  the  tumult  of  the  people,  that  rage 
which  invoked  his  blood  upon  them  and  their  children.  Not  only  the 
brutality  of  the  soldier,  the  apathy  of  the  Centurion,  nor  any  other  merely 
instrumental  cause  of  the  Divine  suffering,  but  the  fury  of  his  own 
people,  the  noise  against  him  of  those  for  whom  he  died,  were  to  be  set 
before  the  eye  of  the  understanding,  if  the  power  of  the  picture  was  to  be 
complete.  This  rage,  be  it  remembered,  was  one  of  disappointed 
pride  ;  and  disappointment  dated  essentially  from  the  time  when,  but  five 
days  before,  the  King  of  Zion  came,  and  was  received  with  hosannahs, 
riding  upon  an  ass,  and  a  colt  the  foal  of  an  ass.  To  this  time,  then,  it 
was  necessaiy  to  divert  the  thought,  for  therein  are  found  both  the  cause 
and  the  character,  the  excitement  of,  and  the  witness  against,  this  mad- 
ness of  the  people.  In  the  shadow  behind  the  cross,  a  man,  riding  on  an 
ass's  colt,  looks  back  to  the  multitude,  while  he  points  with  a  rod  to  the 
Christ  crucified.  The  ass  is  feeding  on  the  retnnanis  of  withered  palm- 
leaves." — Ruskin,  Modern  Painters,  ii.  1 68. 

Other  subjects  in  this  room  are  : — 

Christ  before  Pilate. 

The  Cross-bearing. 

The  Crowning  with  Thorns. 

(Ow  the  ceiling).  The  Apotheosis  of  S.  Roch. 

The  Church  of  S.  Rocco,  rebuilt  1725,  has  a  fine  fifteenth- 
century  altar  from  designs  of  Bartolenieo  Bon.,  1495.  ^^ 
contains  also  : — 

Right,  1st  Altar.      Tintoret.     The  Pool  of  Bethesda. 

Chapel  right  of  High  Altar.      Titian.     The  Betrayal. 

Choir.      Tintoret.     Four  great  pictures  of  the  Charity  of  S.  Roch. 

Entrance  to  Sacristy.   The  fine  tomb  of  Pellegrino  Boselli  Grilli,  15 1 7. 

Pordenone.     Fresco  of  S.  Sebastian. 
Left  Wall.     Pordenone.     S.  Martin  and  the  Beggar. 

Immediately   behind  the  Scuola  di  S.  Rocco,  rises  the 

great  Gothic  brick  Church  of  S.  Maria  Gloriosa  dei  Frari, 

designed  c.  1250,  by  Nicola  Fisano,  for  the  Frati  Minori  di 

S.  Francesco.     The  tower  was  begun  in  1361  by   "jfacopo 

Collega,  and  finished  in  1396  by  his  son  Fietro  Faolo.     The 

interior  is  a  Latin  cross.     The  nave  is  divided  from  its 

aisles   by   circular  columns.      The  general   effect  is   very 


126  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Striking :  the  lines  of  the  church  are  broken  half  way  down 
by  a  screen  with  pulpits  at  either  end. 

"  The  internal  effect  of  the  church  is  much  finer  than  its  west  front 
would  lead  one  to  expect.  The  plan  is  simple  ;  a  nave  and  aisles  of 
six  bays,  transepts  with  three  eastern  chapels  to  each,  and  a  choir  of-one 
bay  with  an  apse  of  four  bays  projecting  beyond  the  others.  The  tower 
is  in  the  angle  between  the  north  transept  and  the  nave,  and  a  large 
sacristy  with  an  eastern  apse  is  built  against  the  south  transept.  'T^he 
nave  and  aisles  measure  about  230  feet  by  104,  and  the  transept  160 
feet  by  48, — magnificent  dimensions  undoubtedly.  The  columns  are 
simple,  cylindrical,  and  very  lofty,  their  capitals  carved  with  foliage, 
which  looks  late  and  poor  in  its  execution,  though  grouped  in  the  old 
way  in  regular  tufts  or  balls  of  foliage.  The  arrangement  of  the  wall 
above  the  main  arcade  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the  Veronese,  and  in- 
deed, to  that  of  most  Italian  Gothic  churches ;  a  plain  wall  being  carried 
up  to  the  groining,  relieved  only  by  a  small  clerestory  window  at  the 
highest  point.  One  is  apt  to  compare  this  arrangement  with  the  artistic 
arrangement  of  clerestory  and  triforium  in  our  own  churches ;  but 
herein  we  do  not  act  quite  fairly  to  Nicola  Pisano,  who  is  said  to  have 
designed  the  Frari,  and  his  brethren.  They  had  to  work  in  a  country 
where  light  must  be  admitted  very  sparingly,  and  where  therefore  it  is 
impossible  for  architects  to  revel  in  the  rich  traceries  which  fill  the  bays 
of  the  churches  in  the  North ;  they  lived  among  a  nation  of  painters, 
and  deemed,  perhaps,  that  these  plain  surfaces  of  wall  would  one  day 
glow  with  colour  and  with  Scripture  story.  The  real  beauty  of  these 
interiors  is  owing,  more  than  anything  else,  I  believe,  to  the  simplicity 
and  beauty  of  the  quadripartite  groining  which  covers  them  in,  and 
which,  even  where  other  features  would  seem  to  tell  of  debasement  and 
absence  of  pure  feeling,  invariably  recalls  us  to  a  proper  recollection  of 
the  infinite  value  of  simplicity  in  this  important  feature — a  point  lost 
sight  of  in  England  after  the  thirteenth  century,  to  the  incalculable 
detriment  of  the  beauty  of  some  of  our  greatest  churches." — Street. 

"  It  always  causes  a  sensation  to  walk  from  the  blazing  sun  and  labour- 
ing life  without  into  these  solemn  enclosures.  Here  are  the  tombs  of  the 
Doges  resting  from  their  rule.  They  seem  pondering  still  as  they  lie 
car^-ed  in  stately  marble  death,  contemplating  the  past  with  their  calm 
brows  and  their  hooked  noses.  The  great  church  is  piled  arch  upon 
arch,  tomb  upon  tomb ;  some  of  these  monuments  hang  in  the  nave 
high  over  the  heads  of  the  people  as  they  kneel ;  above  the  city  and  its 
cries,  and  its  circling  life,  and  the  steps  of  the  easy-going  Venetians."— 
Miss  Thackeray, 


THE  FRARI.  127 

Making  the  circuit  of  the  Interior  from  the  west  door : — 

Right  {on  the  holy-water  dasou).  G.  Campagna,  1593-  Statuette  of 
Chastity. 

After  the  1st  Altar.  Luigi  and  Pietro  Zandomenighi,  1838 — 1852. 
The  monument  of  Titian  erected  by  the  Emperor  of  Austria.  The 
painter  is  seated,  surrounded  by  allegorical  statues  and  reliefs  from  his 
best  works.  To  the  right  of  this  is  his  grave,  with  a  remnant  of  the 
inscription  : — 

"  Qui  giace  il  gran  Tiziano  de'  Vecelli 
Emulator  de'  Zeusi  e  degli  Apelli." 

ind  Altar.    Salviati.     The  Presentation  of  t'le  Virgin. 

The  Monument  erected  by  the  Senate  to  Almerico  d'Este,  General  of 
the  Republic,  who  died  at  Paris,  1660. 

3n/  Altar.     Aless.  Vittoria.     Statue  of  S.  Jerome. 

Beyond  the  ^h  Altar.  Tombs  of  members  of  the  families  of  Zen, 
Bottari,  and  Brignole. 

Over  the  door.     The  rude  wooden  tomb  of  a  Delia  Torre. 

Right  Transept.     Tomb  of  Jacopo  Marcello,  1484. 

Bartolomco  Vivarini,  1482.  Altar-piece.  Christ  on  the  cross  above, 
and  below  the  Virgin  with  SB.  Peter  and  Paul,  Andrew  and  Nicholas. 

Beautiful  Gothic  tomb  of  Era.  Pacifico,  1437,  under  whom  the  church 
of  the  Frari  was  completed. 

Over  the  door  of  the  Sacristy.  Tomb  of  Benedetto  Pesaro,  of  the  i6th 
century. 

Sacristy  (opposite  the  entrance).  Reliquary  of  the  17th  century,  with 
marble  reliefs  by  Cabianea.  (In  the  inner  diinsion)  a  little  altar  of 
the  15th  century  with  a  relief  of  the  Entombment  of  Christ,  with  angels, 
and  statuettes  of  S.  Antonio  and  the  Baptist. 

*Gioz'anni  Bellini,  1488.  An  altar-piece  of  the  Madonna  and  saints, 
in  three  divisions. 

"  The  figure  of  the  Virgin,  and  those  of  the  saints,  by  whom  she  is 
surrounded,  have  all  the  imposing  gravity  of  a  religious  composition, 
while  the  angels  equal  the  most  charming  miniatures  for  freshness  of 
colouring  and  naivete  of  expression  :  it  is  a  work  which  may  boldly  take 
its  place  beside  the  finest  mystical  productions  of  the  Umbrian  school. 
It  seems  as  if  a  foretaste  of  celestial  beatitude  had  beamed  on  the  soul 
of  the  aged  painter  while  occupied  with  this  work  ;  he  has  thrown  aside 
that  veil  of  melancholy  in  which  he  loved  to  wrap  the  countenance  of 
the  Virgin  ;  it  is  no  longer  the  Mother  of  the  Seven  Sorrows  which  he 
has  painted,  but  rather  the  source  of  his  joy — causa  nostra  Icetitice — to 
whom  he  has  addressed  this  short  prayer  : 


128  .      ITALIAN  CITIES. 

'  Janua  certa  poli,  due  mentem,  dirige  vitam, 
Quae  peragem  commissa  tuae  sint  omnia  curse.'  " — Rio. 

"  Au  fond  d'une  chapelle,  au-dessus  de  I'autel,  dans  une  petite 
architecture  d'or,  la  Vierge,  en  grand  manteau  bleu,  siege  sur  un  trone. 
EUe  est  bonne  et  simple  comme  une  paisible  et  simple  paysanne.  A 
ses  pieds,  deux  petits  anges  en  courte  veste  semblent  des  enfants  de 
chiEur,  et  leurs  cuisses  potelees,  enfantines,  ont  la  plus  belle  couleur  de 
la  chair  saine.  Sur  les  deux  cotes,  dans  les  compartiments,  sent  deux 
couples  de  saints,  personnages  immobiles,  en  habits  de  moine  et  d'eveque, 
debout  pour  toujours  dans  I'attitude  hieratique,  figures  reelles  qui  font 
penser  aux  pecheurs  bronzes  de  I'Adriatique.  Toutes  ces  figures  ont 
vecu  ;  le  fidele  qui  s'agenouillait  devant  elles  y  apercevait  les  traits  qu'il 
rencontrait  autour  de  lui  dans  sa  barque  et  dans  ses  ruelles,  le  ton  rouge 
et  brun  des  visages  hales  par  le  vent  de  la  mer,  la  large  carnation  claire 
des  fraiches  fiUes  elevees  dans  I'air  huraide,  la  chape  damasquinee  du 
prelat  qui  commandait  les  processions,  les  petites  jambes  nues  des 
enfants  qui  le  soir  pechaient  les  crabes.  On  ne  pouvait  s'empecher  de 
croire  en  eux  ;  une  verite  si  locale  et  si  complete  conduisait  a  I'illusion." 
—  Taine. 

Titian.  ?     Madonna  and  saints. 

Returning  to  the  Church.  The  tomb,  with  an  equestrian  statue,  of 
Paolo  Savelli,  General  of  the  Republic,  1405. 

\st  Chapel,  right  of  Choir.    Two  tombs  of  the  Bernardo  family,  1500. 
Zrtd  Chapel.    Tomb  of  Duccio  degli  Alberti,  Ambassador  of  the  Re- 
public at  Florence,  1336.     Tomb  of  an  unknown  warrior,  1337. 

"  An  early  fourteenth,  or  perhaps  late  thirteenth  century  tomb,  an 
exquisite  example  of  the  perfect  Gothic  form.  It  is  a  knight's ;  but 
there  is  no  inscription  upon  it,  and  his  name  is  unknown.  It  consists 
of  a  sarcophagus,  raised  against  the  chapel  wall,  bearing  the  re- 
cumbent figure,  protected  by  a  simple  canopy  in  the  form  of  a 
pointed  arch,  pinnacled  by  the  knight's  crest ;  beneath  which  the 
shadowy  space  is  painted  dark  blue ;  and  strewn  with  stars.  The 
statue  itself  is  rudely  carved ;  but  its  lines,  as  seen  from  the  intended 
distance,  are  both  tender  and  masterly.  The  knight  is  laid  in  his  mail, 
only  the  hands  and  face  being  bare.  The  hauberk  and  helmet  are  of 
chain-mail,  the  armour  for  the  limbs,  of  jointed  steel ;  a  tunic,  fitting 
close  to  the  breast,  and  marking  the  swell  of  it  by  the  narrow  embroi- 
dered lines,  is  worn  over  the  mail ;  his  dagger  is  at  his  right  side  ;  his 
long  cross-belted  sword,  not  seen  by  the  spectator  from  below,  at  his 
feet.  His  feet  rest  on  a  hound  (the  hound  being  his  crest),  which  looks 
up  towards  its  master.  The  face  is  turned  away  from  the  spectator, 
towards  the  depth  of  the  arch ;  for  there,  just  above  the  warrior's  breast, 


THE  FRARI.  129 

is  carved  a  small  image  of  S.  Joseph  bearing  the  infant  Christ,  who 
looks  down  upon  the  resting  figure  ;  and  to  this  image  its  countenance 
is  turned.  The  appearance  of  the  entire  tomb  is  as  if  the  warrior  had 
seen  the  vision  of  Christ  in  his  dying  moments,  and  had  fallen  back 
peacefully  upon  his  pillow,  with  his  eyes  still  turned  to  it,  and  his  hands 
clasped  in  prayer." — Kuskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  iii. 

Apse.     The  High- Altar,  of  15 16,  has  an  Assumption  by  Salviati. 

Right.  The  Tomb  of  the  unhappy  Doge  Francesco  Foscari  (see 
Foscari  Palace),  1457,  by  Pietro  and  Ant.  Rizzo. 

Left.     Tomb  of  Doge  Nicolo  Tron,  1476,  by  Antonio  Rizzo. 

1st  Chapel  left  of  Choir.  Bernardino  da  Pordenone.  Madonna 
enthroned  with  saints. 

2nd  Chapel.     Tomb  of  Melchior  Trevisan,  1500,  by  Ant.  Dentone. 

On  the  Altar.     S.  John  Baptist,  in  wood,  by  Donatello,  1428. 

^rd  Chapel.  S.  Ambrose  in  glory  with  saints  ;  an  altar-piece,  begun 
by  Bart.  Vivarini,  finished  by  Marco  Basaiti. 

Over  the  entrance  of  the  next  chapel  an  angel  in  marble  by  Jcuopo  da 
Padova.     The  beautiful  portal  is  a  work  of  the  Massegne. 

Left  Transept.  Bart.  Vivarini.  Altar-piece  of  S.  Mark  and  other 
saints. 

Monument  of  Zen  Orsini,  15th  century. 

Chapel  of  S.  Pietro.  A  beautiful  Gothic  altar  with  statuettes.  Tomb 
of  Bishop  Miani. 

Font,  on  which  is  a  seated  figure  of  the  Baptist  by  Jacopo  Sansovino, 

1554- 

Choir  (in  the  nave  west  of  the  transepts,  as  in  Westminster  Abbey 
and  in  the  Spanish  cathedrals),  124  stalls  of  tarsia  work  by  Marco  da 
Vicenza,  1458 — 1468. 

Nave.     Left  Aisle.     Tomb  of  Bishop  Jacopo  Pesaro,  1547. 
*  Titian.     Altar-piece  called  La  Pala  dei  Pesari.  Madonna  with  saints 
and  members  of  the  Pesaro  family. 

"A  work  of  quite  unfathomable  beauty." — Burckhardt. 

"  A  work  of  the  finest  truth  and  life." — Kiigler. 

The  enormous  tomb  of  Doge  Giovanni  Pesaro,  by  Baldassare  Lon- 
ghena  and  Melchior  Barthel,  1669. 

TheTomb  of  Canova,  erected  1 827—  a  pyramid,  with  allegorical  figures 
by  his  scholars. 

"Consummate  in  science,  intolerable  in  affectation,  ridiculous  in  con- 
ception, null  and  void  to  the  uttermost  in  invention  and  feeling." — 
Ruskin. 

"  Jamais  le  talent  ne  re9ut  un  plus  vaste  homage  :  Angleterre  a  foumi 
VOL.   II,  9 


I30  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

le  quart  de  la  depense  qui  s'est  elevee  a  8000  sequins  (102,000  frs.)  ;  la 
France,  I'Allemagne,  ont  contribue  pour  un  autre  quart  ;  I'Amerique 
(celle  du  sud,  et  non  I'Amerique  industrielle  et  marchande  du  nord), 
a  souscrit  pour  40  sequins ;  I'ltalie  et  principalement  les  villes  veniti- 
ennes  ont  fait  le  reste  ;  malgre  1' exaggeration  ordinaire  des  inscriptions 
de  monuments,  I'inscription  de  celui-ci  ex  consolatione  Europce  universa, 
est  un  peu  au-dessous  de  la  verite  ;  il  est  reellement  erige  aux  frais  de 
I'univers." —  Valery. 

On  the  Holy-Water  Bason,  Statuette  of  S.  Antonio  by  Gir.  Cam- 
pagna,  1593. 

Tomb  of  Pietro  Bernardo,  1568,  by  Aless.  Leopardi. 

The  remains  of  the  noble  Condottiere,  Count  of  Carmagnola,  who  was 
beguiled  back  to  the  Venice  he  had  served,  and  tortured  and  executed 
"between  the  pillars"  in  1432,  by  the  jealousy  of  the  Senate,  were 
first  buried  in  S.  Francesco  della  Vigua,  but  afterwards  removed  to  a 
wooden  coffin  at  the  Frari. 

"  The  little  Campiello  San  Rocco  is  entered  by  a  sotto-portico 
behind  the  church  of  the  Frari.  Looking  back,  the  upper  traceries  of 
the  magnificent  apse  are  seen  towering  above  the  irregular  roofs  and 
chimneys  of  the  little  square  ;  and  our  lost  Prout  was  enabled  to  bring 
the  whole  subject  into  an  exquisitely  picturesque  composition,  by  the 
fortunate  occurrence  of  four  quaint  trefoiled  windows  in  one  of  the 
houses  on  the  right.  Those  trefoils  are  amongst  the  most  ancient  efforts 
of  Gothic  art  in  Venice,  and  are  most  valuable,  as  showing  the  way  in 
which  the  humblest  houses,  in  the  noble  times,  followed  out  the  system 
of  the  larger  palaces,  as  far  as  they  could,  in  their  rude  materials.  It 
is  not  often  that  dwellings  of  the  lower  orders  are  preserved  to  us  from 
the  thirteenth  century." — Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  ii.  7. 

At  the  Ponte  S.  Tomd,  between  the  Frari  and  the  Grand 

Canal,  is  a  doorway  quite  worthy  of  a  visit. 

"  It  has  the  usual  square  opening  of  reddish  marble,  and  above  this 
a  pointed  arch  of  moulded  brick ;  the  tympanum  is  filled  in  with  a 
square  carved  centre  panel,  and  the  ground  beyond  this  with  quatrefoils 
of  brick  or  tile  very  prettily  disposed." — Street. 

Close  by  is  the  Casa  Goldoni,  which  has  an  admirable 
Gothic  staircase. 

Returning  to  our  gondola  we  may  now  visit  the  Church 
of  S.  Giacomo  del  Orio,  founded  555,  but  modernized  1125, 
and  again  1425.     It  contains  : — 


S.  M.  MATER  DOMINI,  S.  CASSANO.  131 

Right.     Fr.  Bassano.     Preaching  of  the  Baptist. 

Left  {in  the  chapel).     Lorenzo  Lotto  1546.     Madonna  enthroned. 

In  the  Campiello  della  Strope,  close  to  this  church,  is  a 
beautiful  example  of  the  fifth  order  of  Venetian  windows. 
It  is  remarkable  for  its  excessive  purity  of  curve,  and  is  of 
very  early  date,  its  mouldings  being  simpler  than  usual. 

The  neighbouring  Church  of  S.  Maria  Mater  Domini, 
built  1500 — 1505  by  Pietro  Lombardo,  with  a  fa9ade  by  J. 
Sansovino,  contains  : — 

Right,  1st  Altar.  Lorenzo  Bregni  and  Attt.  Minello  di  Bardi,  1501 — 
1500.     Three  statues, — SS.  Andrew,  Peter,  and  Paul. 

ind  Altar.  Vincenzo  Catena.  The  vision  of  our  Lord  to  S.  Cristina 
— a  very  lovely  picture. 

Right  Transept.      Tintoret.     The  Finding  of  the  Cross. 

Chapel  left  of  High  Altar.     A  beautiful  15th-century  altar. 

Left  Transept.     Bonifazio.     The  Last  Supper — very  fine  in  colour. 

Last  Altar.     Fr.  Bissolo.     The  Transfiguration. 

In  the  adjoining  Campo  is  an  example  of  a  house  in  which 
a  cross  is  introduced  between  every  window.  The  Church 
of  S.  Cassano  contains  :— 

Right,  1st  Altar.    Talma  Vecchio.    The  Baptist  and  four  other  saints. 
2,rd  Altar.     Leandro  Bassano.     The  Visitation. 
Chapel  right  of  High  Altar.     L.  Bassano.     Birth  of  the  Virgin,  and 
Zacharias. 

Apse.     Tintoret.     The  Descent  into  Hades. 
Id.     The  Resurrection. 

In  the  same  Campo  is  a  beautiful  example  of  an  early 
Gothic  window,  "  where  the  reversed  curve  at  the  head  of 
the  pointed  arch  is  just  perceptible  and  no  more." 

At  the  Ponte  del  Corner  near  S.  Cassano  is  "a  noble 
house,  in  which  the  spandrils  of  the  windows  are  filled  by 
the  emblems  of  the  Four  Evangelists,  sculptured  in  deep 
relief,  and  touching  the  edges  of  the  arches  with  their  ex- 
panded wings."* 

•  Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice. 


I3i  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Near  this,  on  the  Fondamenta  Pesaro,  is  an  especially 
stately  14th-century  palace. 

The  Church  of  S.  Aponal  ( Apollinare)  has  a  fine  entrance 
and  an  old  14th-century  tower.  Thence  a  little  street  leads 
to  the  Potite  Storto,  close  to  which  rises  the  Palazzo  Capello, 
of  the  beginning  of  the  i6th  century,  where  the  famous 
Bianca  Capello  was  born  in  1548,  and  whence,  in  1563,  she 
fled  to  Florence  with  Pietro  Buonaventura. 

Close  by  is  the  wide  Campo  S.  Polo  (or  S.  Paolo),  The 
Church  of  S.  Polo  is  modernised,  but  has  a  tower  of  1375. 
It  contains  some  large  pictures  by  Salviati.  At  the  sides  of 
the  high  altar  are  : 

Aless.  Vittoria.     SS.  Paul  and  Antonio  Abate. 

On  the  right  of  the  Ponte  S.  Polo  is  the  Palazzo  Comer 
Mocenigo,  a  beautiful  work  of  1548,  by  Michele  Sanmichele. 
Close  by  also,  near  Ponte  Bernardo,  is  the  Palazzo  Bernardo, 
on  a  narrow  canal,  a  glorious  Gothic  building  of  1350 — 1400; 
its  fa9ade  was  once  painted  by  G.  Salviati,  and  it  is  quite 
superb  in  picturesqueness  and  colour.  In  the  neighbour- 
ing Calle  dei  Saoneri  a  bust  marks  the  house  where  Goldoni 
was  born. 

At  the  end  of  the  Calle  del  Tabacco  is  the  Scuola  di  S. 
Giovanni  Evangelista.  Its  court  has  an  entrance-gate  of 
1 48 1,  and  it  has  a  fine  staircase.  The  church  contains  the 
monument  of  Gian  Andrea  Badoer  by  Danese  Cataneo,  and 
a  curious  reliquary. 

"Lights  flash  from  the  upper  windows  of  the  tall  palaces,  balconies 
start  overhead  marked  upon  the  sky.  Now  it  is  a  palace  to  let,  with 
wooden  shutters  swinging  in  shadow;  now  we  pass  the  yawning  vaults 
of  great  warehouses  piled  with  saffron  and  crimson  dyes,  where  barges 
are  moored  and  workmen  straining  at  the  rolling  barrels.     Now  it  is  the 


> 


THE  SIDE  CANALS.  133 

brown  wall  of  some  garden  terrace ;  a  garland  has  crept  over  the  brick, 
and  droops  almost  to  the  water  ;  one  little  spray  encircles  a  rusty  ring 
hanging  there  with  its  shadow.  Now  we  touch  palace  walls,  and  with 
a  hollow  jar  start  off  once  more.  Now  comes  a  snatch  of  song  through  an 
old  archway ;  here  are  boats  and  voices,  the  gondolier's  earrings  twinkle 
in  the  sun;  here  are  vine  wreaths,  and  steps  where  children,  those  un- 
tiring spectators  of  life,  are  clustering ;  more  barges  with  heavy  fruit 
and  golden  treasure  go  by.  A  little  brown-faced  boy  is  lying  with  his 
brown  legs  in  the  sun  on  the  very  edge  of  a  barge,  dreaming  over  into 
the  green  water  ;  he  lazily  raises  his  head  to  look,  and  falls  back  again ; 
now  a  black  boat  passes  like  a  ghost,  its  slender  points  start  upwards  in 
a  line  with  the  curve  of  yonder  spire ;  now  it  is  out  of  all  this  swing  of 
shadow  and  confusion  that  we  cross  a  broad  sweet  breadth  of  sunlight, 
and  come  into  the  Grand  Canal." — Miss  Thackei-ay. 


«34 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
SUBURBAN  VENICE. 

THE  GIUDECCA   AND   IL    REDENTORE,  S.  GIORGIO,  THE   ARME- 
NIAN CONVENT,  S.  ELENA,  AND   THE  LIDO. 

WE  must  now  direct  our  Gondola  up  the  wide  canal 
of  La  Giudecca,  which,  like  a  broad  river,  separates 
the  largest  of  the  islands  on  the  south-west  from  the  rest  of 
the  city. 

"  Veritablement  on  nage  dans  la  lumi^re.  Le  ciel  la  verse,  I'eau  la 
colore,  les  reflets  la  centuplent ;  il  n'y  a  pas  jusqu'aux  maisons  blanches  et 
roses  qui  ne  la  renvoient,  et  la  poesie  des  formes  vient  achever  la  poesie 
du  jour.  En  vain  le  canal  de  la  Giudecca,  presque  vide,  semble  attendre 
des  flottes  pour  peupler  son  noble  port ;  on  ne  songe  qu'aux  couleurs  et 
taux  lignes.  Trois  lignes  et  trois  couleurs  font  tout  le  spectacle :  le 
large  crista!  mouvant,  glauque  et  sombre,  qui  toume  avec  une  dure 
fcouleur  luisante ;  au-dessus,  detachee  en  vif  relief,  la  file  des  batisses 
qui  suit  sa  courbure  ;  plus  haut  enfin  le  ciel  clair,  infini,  presque  pale. " 
—Taine. 

The  most  important  building  on  La  Giudecca  is  the  great 
Church  of  II  Redentore,  built  by  Palladia,  1577. 

' '  Une  fois  le  genre  admis,  I'eglise  du  Redempteur  fait  assez  belle  figure 
au  bord  du  canal,  ou  elle  se  mire  avec  son  grand  escalier  monumental  de 
dix-sept  marches  de  marbre,  son  fronton  triangulaire,  ses  colonnes  co- 
rinthiennes,  sa  porte  et  ses  statues  de  bronze,  ses  deux  pyramidlons  et  sa 
coupole  blanche,  qui  fait  un  si  bel  effet  dans  les  couchers  de  soleil,  quand 
on  se  promene  au  large  en  gondole  entre  les  jardins  publics  et  Saint 
Georges." — Theophile  Gautier. 

"The  nave  is  a  great  hall,  50  ft  wide  by  105  in  length,  with  narrow 


S.  GIORGIO.  135 

side  chapels,  between  which  ranges  a  Corinthian  Order,  of  great  beauty 
in  itself,  and  standing  on  the  floor  without  pedestals.  It  is  merely  an 
ornament  however,  and  has  no  architectural  connection  with  the  plain 
flat  elliptical  vault  of  the  church,  which  is  most  disagreeably  cut  into  by 
the  windows  that  give  light  to  the  nave.  A  worse  defect  of  the  design 
is  that,  instead  of  the  church  expanding  at  the  intersections,  the  sup- 
ports of  the  dome  actually  contract  it ;  and  though  the  dome  is  of  the 
same  width  as  the  nave,  and  has  a  semi-circular  tribune  on  each  side, 
the  arrangement  is  such  that  it  looks  smaller  and  more  contracted  than 
the  nave  that  leads  to  it.  If  we  add  to  these  defects  of  design  that,  both 
here  and  at  San  Giorgio,  no  marble  or  colour  is  used — nothing  but  plain 
cold  stone  and  whitewash — it  will  be  understood  how  very  unsatisfactory 
these  interiors  are,  and  how  disappointing,  after  all  the  praise  that  has 
been  lavished  on  them." — Fergusson. 

The  Crucifix  over  the  high  altar  is  by  Gir.  Catnpagna.  The  pictures 
in  the  church  are  unimportant,  but  in  the  sacristy  are  three  of  the  most 
exquisite  pictures  in  Venice — by  Giovanni  Bellini.  Madonna  with  SS. 
John  Baptist  and  Catherine.  Madonna  with  SS.  Jerome  and  Francis. 
Madonna  with  the  sleeping  Child  and  two  angels. 

West  of  the  Church  are  the  Fondamenta  di  S.  Biagio. 

A  Saint-Blaise,  a  la  Zuecca 
Vous  ctiez,  vous  etiez  bien  aise 

A  Saint-Blaise. 
A  Saint-Blaise,  a  la  Zuecca, 
Nous  etions  bien  \k. 

Mais  de  vous  en  souvenir 

Prendrez-vous  la  peine  ? 
Mais  de  vous  en  souvenir 

Et  d'y  revenir. 

A  Saint-Blaise,  \  la  Zuecca 

Dans  les  pres  fleuris  cueillir  la  verveine  ; 

A  Saint-Blaise,  a  la  Zuecca 

Vivre  et  mourir  li. — Alfred  de  Musset. 

The  Church  of  S.  Giorgio,  so  conspicuous  in  most  of  the 
distant  views  of  Venice,  stands  on  a  separate  island  at  the 
eastern  point  of  the  Giudecca,  It  was  the  work  of  Palladia, 
1565 — 1660.  Here,  in  1800,  met  the  college  of  Cardinals 
which  elected  Pius  VII.  to  the  papal  throne. 


136  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Right,  xst  Altar.     Jacopo  Bassano.     The  Nativity. 
znd  Altar.    Michelozzo  Michelozzi.     Wooden  Crucifix. 
■^rd  and  i^h  Altar.     Tintoret.     SS.  Cosmo  and  Damian. 

In  a  Corridor  near  the  High  Altar  is  the  Tomb  of  the  great  Doge 
Domenico  Michele,  1687,  by  Baldassare  Longhena.  This  was  the  Doge 
who  assisted  in  the  crusade  of  S.  Bernard  and  Godfrey  de  Bouillon — 
who  was  the  conqueror  of  Jaffa,  Jerusalem,  Tyre,  and  Ascalon — and 
who  brought  back  the  granite  columns  of  the  piazza.  He  has  for  an 
epitaph  the  words  : 

"  Terror  Graecorum  jacet  hie." 

Left,  1st  Altar.     Tintoret.     The  Resurrection. 

2nd  Altar.     Tintoret. 

Last  Altar.    Leandro  Bassano.    Martyrdom  of  S.  Lucia. 

Now  we  must  embark  in  our  gondola  for  a  rather  longer 

voyage  than  those  we  have  hitherto  taken,  when,  freed  from 

musty  churches,  and  wearisome  pictures,  we  may  enjoy  the 

full  glory  of  this  wonderful  water-land. 

"As  I  floated  down  the  lagunes  in  the  full  sunshine,  and  observed 
how  the  figures  of  the  gondoliers  in  their  motley  costume,  moving  lightly, 
as  they  rowed,  above  the  sides  of  the  gondola,  stood  out  against  the 
bright  green  water  and  the  blue  sky,  I  caught  the  best  and  freshest 
possible  type  of  the  Venetian  school.  The  sunshine  brought  out  the 
local  colours  with  dazzling  brilliancy,  and  even  the  shadows  were  so 
luminous,  that  they,  in  their  turn,  might  sen^e  as  lights.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  reflection  from  the  sea-green  water.    All  was  painted 

'chiaro  nel  chiaro,'  so  that  foaming  waves  and  lightning  flashes  were 
necessary  to  give  it  grandeur,"  (um  die  Tiipfchen  auf  sie  zu  setzen). — 

Goethe. 

In  the  direction  of  the  Lido  is  the  Island  of  S.  Lazaro. 
Here  is  the  Armenian  Convent  which  has  obtained  a  ficti- 
tious celebrity  through  Byron,  who  studied  here  for  six 
months. 

On  Dec.  5,  18 16,  Byron  wrote  to  Moore : 

'•  By  way  of  divertisement,  I  am  studying  daily,  at  an  Armenian 
monastery,  the  Armenian  language.  I  found  that  my  mind  wanted 
something  craggy  to  break  upon;  and  this — as  the  most  difficult  thing 


THE  ARMENIAN  CONVENT.  137 

T  could  discover  here  for  an  amusement — I  have  chosen,  to  torture  me 
into  attention.  It  is  a  rich  language,  however,  and  would  amply  repay 
any  one  the  trouble  of  learning  it.  I  try,  and  shall  go  on ;  but  I  answer 
for  nothing,  least  of  all  for  my  intentions  or  my  success.  There  are  some 
very  curious  MSS.  in  the  monastery,  as  well  as  books;  translations  also 
from  Greek  originals,  now  lost,  and  from  Persian  and  Syriac,  &c. ; 
besides  works  of  their  own  people.  Four  years  ago  the  French  instituted 
an  Armenian  professorship.  Twenty  pupils  presented  themselves  on 
Monday  morning,  full  of  noble  ardour,  ingenuous  youth,  and  impregnable 
industry.  They  persevered,  with  a  courage  worthy  of  the  nation  and  of 
universal  conquest,  till  Thursday  ;  when /if teen  of  the  twenty  succumbed 
to  the  six-and-twentieth  letter  of  the  alphabet.  It  is,  to  be  sure,  a 
Waterloo  of  an  alphabet— that  must  be  said  for  them." 

The  Convent  was  founded  in  the  last  century,  and  pos- 
sesses an  excellent  library  and  a  printing  press.  Its  continued 
existence  is  due  to  its  being  under  the  protection  of  Turkey. 

"The  society  of  the  Convent  of  S.  Lazarus  appears  to  unite  all  the 
advantages  of  the  monastic  institution,  without  any  of  its  vices. 

*'  The  neatness,  the  comfort,  the  gentleness,  the  unaffected  devotion, 
the  accomplishments,  and  the  virtues  of  the  brethren  of  the  order,  are 
well  fitted  to  strike  a  man  of  the  world  with  the  conviction  that  '  there  is 
another  and  a  better,  even  in  this  life.' 

"  These  men  are  the  priesthood  of  an  oppressed  and  noble  nation, 
which  has  partaken  of  the  proscription  and  bondage  of  the  Jews  and  of 
the  Greeks,  without  the  sullenness  of  the  former  or  the  servility  of  the 
latter.  This  people  has  attained  riches  without  usury,  and  all  the 
honours  that  can  be  awarded  to  slavery  without  intrigue.  But  they  have 
long  occupied,  nevertheless,  a  part  of  '  the  House  of  Bondage,'  who  has 
lately  multiplied  her  many  mansions.  It  would  be  difficult,  perhaps,  to 
find  the  annals  of  a  nation  less  stained  with  crimes  than  those  of  the 
Armenians,  whose  virtues  have  been  those  of  peace,  and  their  vices 
those  of  compulsion.  But  whatever  may  have  been  their  destiny, — and 
it  has  been  bitter,  — whatever  it  may  be  in  future,  their  country  must  ever 
be  one  of  the  most  interesting  on  the  globe ;  and  perhaps  their  language 
only  requires  to  be  more  studied  to  become  more  attractive.  If  the 
Scriptures  are  rightly  understood,  it  was  in  Armenia  that  Paradise  was 
placed — Armenia,  which  has  paid  as  dearly  as  the  descendants  of  Adam 
for  that  fleeting  participation  of  its  soil  in  the  happiness  of  him  who  was 
created  from  its  dust.  It  was  in  Armenia  that  the  flood  first  abated,  and 
the  dove  alighted.  But  with  the  disappearance  of  Paradise  itself  may 
be  dated  almost  the  unhappiness  of  the  country;    for  though  long  a 


138  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

powerful  kingdom,  it  was  scarcely  ever  an  independent  one,  and  the 
satraps  of  Persia  and  the  pachas  of  Turkey  have  alike  desolated  the 
region  where  God  created  man  in  his  own  image." — Byron,  Preface  to 
the  Armenian  Grammar  found  amongst  his  papers. 

No  traveller  should  leave  Venice  without  visiting  the 
lovely  Island  of  S.  Elena,  which  is  only  a  short  distance 
from  the  Public  Gardens.  It  was  occupied  by  a  large  con- 
vent now  desecrated,  but  is  still  full  of  poetic  beauty.  There 
is  a  beautiful  Gothic  cloister  where  the  roses  and  jessamine 
pour  their  masses  of  blossom  over  the  parapets,  and  a  large 
garden  with  exquisite  views,  especially  at  low  water,  towards 
S.  Pietro  and  Murano.  Artists  should  certainly  give  up  a 
day  to  S.  Elena,  so  lovely  in  its  desolation,  though  it  ever 
seems  to  say  to  the  lapping  waters — 

"  Break,  break,  break, 

On  the  cold  grey  stones,  O  sea  ! 
For  the  tender  grave  of  a  day  that  is  dead 
Will  never  come  back  to  me." 

The  Lido  is  a  name  sometimes  applied  to  the  whole  strip 
of  shore  (formed  by  three  islands),  which,  seven  miles  in 
length  and  half  a  mile  in  breadth,  extends  along  the  mouth 
of  the  lagoon  and  forms  the  outer  bulwark  of  Venice  against 
the  sea ;  but,  in  its  common  acceptation,  the  name  refers  to 
that  portion  of  the  barrier  which  is  nearest  to  Venice,  and 
whither  its  people  resort  to  ride  on  the  sands  or  to  bathe  in 
the  sea.  Steamers  leave  the  Schiavoni  constantly  for  the 
Lido,  returning  every  hour,  and  it  is  a  very  pleasant  resort  on 
late  summer  evenings,  and  worth  while  even  for  the  beauty 
of  the  return  to  Venice,  when  all  its  lights  are  reflected  in 
the  still  water.  The  weird  sands,  however,  where  Byron  rode 
and  which  travellers  of  a  few  years  ago  will  remember,  have 
now  disappeared,  and  a  pergola  of  vines  leads  from  the 


THE  LIDO.  139 

lagoon  to  the  sea  (about  7  min.  walk).  Turning  to  the  left 
along  the  lagoon  towards  S.  Nicolo,  we  cross  the  desecrated 
Jewish  cemetery.  It  was  to  the  Porto  di  Lido  that  the  Doge 
went  forth  annually  for  the  ceremony  of  the  espousals  of 
Venice  with  the  Adriatic,  and  cast  the  ring  into  the  sea 
from  the  Bucentaur. 

"  Once  did  she  hold  the  gorgeous  East  in  fee, 
And  was  the  safe-guard  of  the  West  ;  the  worth 
Of  Venice  did  not  fall  "below  her  birth, 
Venice,  the  eldest  child  of  liberty. 
She  was  a  maiden  city,  bright  and  free  ; 
No  guile  seduced,  no  force  could  violate  ; 
And  when  she  took  unto  herself  a  mate, 
She  must  espouse  the  everlasting  sea. 
And  what  if  she  had  seen  those  glories  fade, 
Those  titles  vanish,  and  that  strength  decay, — 
Yet  shall  some  tribute  of  regret  be  paid 
When  her  long  life  hath  reached  its  final  day : 
Men  are  we,  and  must  grieve  when  even  the  shade 
Of  that  which  once  was  great  has  passed  away. " 

W.  Wordsworth. 

The  Castello  di  S.  Andrea  was  built  by  Michele  San- 
michele  in  1554.  The  Church  of  S.  Nicolo,  founded  1044, 
was  rebuilt  in  1826.  It  contains,  near  the  door,  the  tomb  of 
Doge  Domenico  Contarinl 


I40 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
CHIOGGIA. 

THE  delightful  excursion  to  Chioggia  will  occupy  a  day. 
The  steamer  leaves  at  9I  a.m.,  and  arrives  at  Venice 
again  at  6|  p.m.,  allowing  five  hours  at  Chioggia.  This  ex- 
pedition is  the  best  means  of  seeing  the  general  features  of 
the  lagoon  and  the  natural  bulwarks  of  Venice.  The  most 
feeble  sailors  will  only  find  it  rough  for  a  few  minutes,  in 
crossing  the  bars  of  Malamocco  and  Chioggia. 

Crossing  the  lagoon  we  pass  on  the  right  the  Island  of  S. 
Servolo,  which  contains  the  great  Lunatic  Asylum,  built 
1725,  by  Giov.  Scalfurotto. 

"Honour  aright  the  philosophic  thought, 
That  they  who,  by  the  trouble  of  the  brain 
Or  heart,  for  usual  life  are  over-wrought, 
Hither  should  come  to  discipline  their  pain. 
A  single  Convent  on  a  shoaly  plain 
Of  waters  never  changing  their  dull  face 
But  by  the  sparkles  of  the  thick-falling  rain 
Or  lines  of  puny  waves, — such  is  the  place. 
Strong  medicine  enters  by  the  ear  and  eye  ; 
That  low  unaltering  dash  against  the  wall 
May  lull  the  angriest  dream  to  vacancy ; 
And  Melancholy,  finding  nothing  strange 
For  her  poor  self  to  jar  upon  at  all. 

Frees  her  sad-centred   thoughts,  and  gives  them  pleisant 
range. " — MoTtckton  Milnes. 

Our  route  is  now  like  a  highway  on  the  sea,  an  avenue  of 


MALAMOCCO  AND  PELESTINA.  141 

posts  marking  the  deep  water  on  either  side.  On  the  right, 
is  the  Island  of  Poeggia.  The  outer  bulwark  of  the  lagoon 
is  formed  by  three  islands.  That  which  ends  to  the  north 
in  the  castle  of  S.  Andrea,  and  to  the  south  in  the  fort  ot 
Alberoni,  is  called  Littorale  di  Malamocco.  The  original 
island  of  Malamocco,  on  which  the  fugitives  from  Padua  took 
refuge  from  Atila  in  452,  was  submerged  in  1107.  The  next 
island,  Littorale  di  Felestina,  is  guarded  by  the  Castello  di  S. 
Pietro,  and  the  Forte  de  Caroman.  The  southernmost  island, 
Littorale  di  Sotto  Marina,  forms  the  bulwark  of  Chioggia, 
Both  the  last-named  islands  are  defended  by  the  strong  sea 
walls,  called  /  Murazzi,  erected  1774 — 1728,  being  4603 
yards  long  on  the  coast  of  Pelestina  and  1522  yards  on  that 
of  Sotto  Marina.  As  we  coast  along  the  shores  we  have  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  how  their  many  villages  have  all  the 
same  peculiar  characteristics ; — the  tall  campanile  ;  the  white- 
washed houses  with  Venetian  Gothic  windows ;  the  miniature 
piazza  with  the  lions  supported  on  tall  staffs  ;  the  bronzed 
Giorgione  figures  lounging  over  the  little  piers  green  with 
sea-weed ;  the  strip  of  shore  with  reed  fences  protecting  the 
gardens  from  the  salt  winds,  and  the  feathery  tamarisks 
hanging  over. 

The  female  population  are  almost  entirely  occupied  in 
lace-making,  especially  at  Pelestina,  and  it  is  characteristic  of 
the  Venetian  character  that  till  a  few  years  ago  all  the  lace- 
stitches  had  religious  names,  "  Aves,"  "  Paters,"  &c. 

The  islands,  and  the  views  across  the  sparkling  lagoon- 
broken  here  and  there  into  strips  of  the  brightest  emerald- 
green — to  the  beautiful  Euganean  hills,  will  occupy  us  till  we 
reach  Chioggia  (Hotel  Luna),  where  a  considerable  town 
occupies  the  whole  of  one  of  the  larger  islands.     Its  chief 


b 


142 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


features  are  one  immensely  broad  street,  and  one  wide  canal 
which  perfectly  blazes  with  colour — orange,  yellow,  crimson, 
and  red — from  the  sails  of  its  fishing-boats,  which  have  the 
most  extraordinary  vanes  at  the  top  of  their  masts,  wrought 
into  the  quaintest  possible  designs.  When  all  these  boats 
set  forth  and  skim  over  the  lagoon,  it  is  like  the  flight  of  a 
swarm  of  butterflies.  The  people  of  Chioggia,  too,  retain  all 
the  finest  characteristics  of  the  old  Venetian  type,  and 
painters  still  find  their  best  models  here. 


Street  of  Chioggia. 


Cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world  by  water,  the  life  at 
Chioggia  is  still  the  life  of  centuries  ago,  and  Ariosto  is  even 
now  (1875)  ^^^^  publicly  in  the  evenings  in  the  principal 
street  by  a  regular  reader  to  a  large  and  delighted  audience. 

"  In  questo  paese  si  divide  tutta  la  populazione  in  due  classe  :  ricchi, 
e  poveri.  Quelli  che  portano  una  pamicca  ed  un  mantello,  sono  i 
ricchi  ;  quelli  che  non  hanno  che  un  berretto  ed  un  cappotto,  sono  i 
poveri ;  ben  spesso  questi  ultimi  hanno  quattro  volte  piii  danaro  degli 
altri. " — Goldoni. 


RE  TURN-  FROM  CHIOGGIA .  143 

Few  visitors  will  care  to  go  building-hunting  at  Chioggia. 
There  is  a  Granary  of  1322,  resting  on  64  pillars.  The 
Cathedral  was  built  1633 — 1674,  by  Bald.  Longhena,  and 
has  some  good  reliefs  by  Bonasso  at  the  altar  of  S.  Agnes 
and  on  the  pulpit.  The  Oratory  of  S.  Martino,  of  1393,  has 
an  altar  of  1394.  The  Church  of  S.  Andrea  has  an  altar  by 
Sansovino.  Chioggia  is  joined  to  the  island  of  Brondolo  (a 
continuation  of  the  Lido)  by  a  bridge  of  43  arches. 

Beautiful  are  the  effects  of  sunset  on  the  still  lagoon,  and 
still  more  perhaps  the  effects  of  moonlight,  enjoyed  by  those 
who  return  in  the  evening  from  Chioggia. 

"On  ne  nous  avait  certainement  pas  assez  vante  la  beaute  du  ciel  et 
les  delices  des  nuits  de  Venise.  La  lagune  est  si  calme  dans  les  beaux 
soirs  que  les  etoiles  n'y  tremblent  pas.  Quand  on  est  au  milieu,  elle  est 
si  blanc,  si  unie,  que  I'oeil  ne  saisit  plus  la  ligne  de  I'horizon,  et  que 
I'eau  et  le  ciel  ne  font  plus  qu'un  voile  d'azur,  ou  la  reverie  se  perd  et 
s'endort.  " — George  Sand. 

"Now  am  I  also  one  of  the  birds  of  the  Adriatic  Sea,  as  every 
Venetian  feels  himself  to  be,  while  reclining  in  his  gondola.  All  that 
surrounds  me  is  dignified — a  grand  venerable  work  of  combined  human 
energies,  a  noble  monument,  not  of  a  ruler,  but  of  a  people.  And  if 
their  lagunes  are  gradually  filling  up,  if  unwholesome  vapours  are  float- 
ing over  the  marsh,  if  their  trade  is  declining,  and  their  power  has 
passed  away,  still  the  great  place  and  its  essential  character,  will  not  for 
a  moment  be  less  venerable." — Goeifie. 

The  approach  to  Venice,  seen  in  coming  from  Trieste  on 
this  side,  affords  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  striking  views 
of  the  water-city. 

"  Underneath  day's  azure  eyes, 
Ocean's  nursling,  Venice  lies, — 
A  peopled  labyrinth  of  walls, 
Amphitrite's  destined  halls. 
Which  her  hoary  sire  now  paves 
With  his  blue  and  gleaming  waves. 
Lo !  the  sun  upsprings  behind. 
Broad,  red,  radiant,  half-reclined 


144  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

On  the  level  quivering  line 

Of  the  waters  crystalline  ; 

And  before  that  chasm  of  light 

As  within  a  furnace  bright, 

Column,  tower,  and  dome,  and  spire, 

Shine  like  obelisks  of  fire. 

Pointing  with  inconstant  motion 

From  the  altar  of  dark  ocean 

To  the  sapphire-tinted  skies; 

As  the  flames  of  sacrifice 

From  the  marbled  shrines  did  rise 

As  to  pierce  the  dome  of  gold 

Where  Apollo  spake  of  old. " — Shelley. 


145 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 
MURANO  AND  TORCELLO. 

A  WHOLE  day  must  be  given  to  this  delightful  excur- 
sion, and  a  calm  sea  should  be  chosen.  It  is  some- 
times very  rough  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Murano. 

Emerging  from  the  narrow  canals  of  Venice  at  the  Fon- 
damente  Nuove,  we  find  ourselves  in  the  open  lagoon.  The 
nearest  island,  to  which  boat-funerals  are  gliding  stealthily 
with  black  flags,  is  that  of  S.  Michele,  occupied  by  the 
Cemetery. 

The  handsome  church  beside  the  burial  ground  dates 
from  the  15th  century. 

"The  pure  cumuli  of  cloud  lie  crowded  and  leaning  against  one 
another,  rank  beyond  rank,  far  over  the  shining  water,  each  cut  away 
at  its  foundation  by  a  level  line,  trenchant  and  clear,  till  they  sink  to  the 
horizon  like  a  flight  of  marble  steps,  except  where  the  mountains  meet 
them,  and  are  lost  in  them,  barred  across  by  the  grey  terraces  of  those 
cloud  foundations,  and  reduced  into  one  crestless  bank  of  blue,  spotted 
here  and  there  with  strange  flakes  of  wan,  aerial,  greenish  light,  strewed 
upon  them  like  snow.  And  underneath  is  the  long  dark  line  of  the 
mainland,  fringed  with  low  trees  ;  and  then  the  wide  waving 
surface  of  the  burnished  lagoon  trembling  slowly,  and  shaking  out  into 
forked  bands  of  lengthening  light  the  images  of  the  towers  of  cloud 
above.  To  the  north,  there  is  first  the  great  cemetery  wall,  then  the  long 
stray  buildings  of  Murano,  and  the  island  villages  beyond,  glittering  in 
intense  crystalline  vermillion,  like  so  much  jewelry  scattered  on  a  mirror, 
their  towers  poised  apparently  in  the  air  a  little  above  the  horizon,  and 
their  reflections,  as  sharp  and  vivid  and  substantial  as  themselves,  thrown 
on  the  vacancy  between  them  and  the  sea.  And  thus  the  villages  seem 
VOL.  II.  10 


146  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

standing  on  the  air  ;  and,  to  the  east,  there  is  a  cluster  of  ships  that  seem 
sailing  on  the  land  ;  for  the  sandy  line  of  the  Lido  stretches  itself  be- 
tween us  and  them,  and  we  can  see  the  tall  white  sails  moving  beyond 
it,  but  not  the  sea,  only  there  is  a  sense  of  the  great  sea  being  indeed 
there,  and  a  solemn  strength  of  gleaming  light  in  the  sky  above. 

"The  most  discordant  feature  in  the  whole  scene  is  the  cloud  which 
hovers  above  the  glass  furnaces  of  Murano  ;  but  this  we  may  not  regret, 
as  it  is  one  of  the  last  signs  left  of  human  exertion  among  the  ruinous 
villages  which  surround  us.  The  silent  gliding  of  the  gondola  brings  it 
nearer  to  us  every  moment ;  we  pass  the  cemetery,  and  a  deep  sea- 
channel  which  separates  it  from  Murano,  and  finally  enter  a  narrow 
water-street,  with  a  paved  footpath  on  each  side,  raised  three  or  four 
feet  above  the  canal,  and  forming  a  kind  of  quay  between  the  water  and 
the  doors  of  the  houses.  These  latter  are,  for  the  most  part,  low,  but 
built  with  massy  doors  and  windows  of  marble  or  Istrian  stone,  square 
set,  and  barred  with  iron  ;  buildings  evidently  once  of  no  mean  order, 
though  now  only  inhabited  by  the  poor.  Here  and  there  an  ogee 
window  of  the  fourteenth  century,  or  a  doorway  deeply  enriched  with 
cable  mouldings,  shows  itself  in  the  midst  of  more  ordinary  features ; 
and  several  houses,  consisting  of  one  story  only  carried  on  square  pillars, 
forming  a  short  arcade  along  the  quay,  have  windows  sustained  on 
shafts  of  red  Verona  marble,  of  singular  grace  and  delicacy.  All  now 
in  vain  ;  little  care  is  there  for  their  delicacy  or  grace  among  the  rough 
fishermen  sauntering  on  the  quay  with  their  jackets  hanging  loose  from 
their  shoulders,  jacket  and  cap  and  hair  all  of  the  same  dark -greenish 
sea-grey.  But  there  is  some  life  in  the  scene,  more  than  is  usual  in 
Venice  :  the  women  are  sitting  at  their  doors  knitting  busily,  and  various 
workmen  of  the  glass-houses  sifting  glass  dust  upon  the  pavement,  and 
strange  cries  coming  from  one  side  of  the  canal  to  the  other,  and  ringing 
far  along  the  crowded  water,  from  vendors  of  figs  and  grapes,  and 
gourds  and  shell-fish  ;  cries  partly  descriptive  of  the  eatables  in  question, 
but  interspersed  with  others  of  a  character  unintelligible  in  proportion 
to  their  violence,  and  fortunately  so,  if  we  may  judge  by  a  sentence 
which  is  stencilled  in  black,  within  a  garland,  on  the  white-washed 
walls  of  nearly  every  other  house  in  the  street,  but  which,  how  often 
soever  written,  no  one  seems  to  regard  :  '  Bestemme  non  piii.  Lodate 
Gesu.' 

'*  We  push  our  way  between  large  barges  laden  with  fresh  water  from 
Fusina,  in  round  white  tubs  seven  feet  across,  and  complicated  boats 
full  of  all  manner  of  nets  that  look  as  if  they  could  never  be  disentangled, 
hanging  from  their  masts  and  over  their  sides  ;  and  presently  pass  under 
a  brid<Te  with  the  lion  of  S.  Mark  on  its  archivolt,  and  another  on  a 


MURANO.  li,-] 

pillar  at  the  end  of  the  parapet,  a  small  red  lion  with  much  of  the  puppy 
in  his  face,  looking  vacantly  up  into  the  air  (in  passing  we  may  note 
that,  instead  of  feathers,  his  wings  are  covered  with  hair,  and  in  several 
other  points  the  manner  of  his  sculpture  is  not  uninteresting).  Presently 
the  canal  turns  a  little  to  the  left,  and  thereupon  becomes  more  quiet, 
the  main  bustle  of  the  water-street  being  usually  confined  to  the  first 
straight  reach  of  it,  some  quarter  of  a  mile  long,  the  Cheapside  of 
Murano.  We  pass  a  considerable  church  on  the  left,  S.  Pietro,  and  a 
little  square  opposite  to  it  with  a  few  acacia  trees,  and  then  find  our 
boat  suddenly  seized  by  a  strong  green  eddy,  and  whirled  into  the  tide- 
way of  one  of  the  main  channels  of  the  lagoon,  which  divides  the  town 
of  Murano  into  two  parts  by  a  deep  stream  some  fifty  yards  over,  crossed 
only  by  one  wooden  bridge.  We  let  ourselves  drift  some  way  down  the 
current,  looking  at  the  low  line  of  cottages  on  the  other  side  of  it, 
hardly  knowing  if  there  be  more  cheerfulness  or  melancholy  in  the  way 
the  sunshine  glows  on  their  ruinous  but  white- washed  walls  and  sparkles 
on  the  rushing  of  the  green  water  by  the  grass-grown  quay.  It  needs  a 
strong  stroke  of  the  oar  to  bring  us  into  the  mouth  of  another  quiet 
canal  on  the  other  side  of  the  tideway,  and  we  are  still  somewhat  giddy 
when  we  run  the  head  of  the  gondola  into  the  sand  on  the  left-hand  side 
of  this  more  sluggish  stream,  and  land  under  the  east  end  of  the  Church 
of  San  Donato,  the  *  Matrice  '  or  *  Mother '  church  of  Murano. 

"  It  stands,  it  and  the  heavy  campanile  detached  from  it  a  few  yards, 
in  a  small  triangular  field  of  somewhat  fresher  grass  than  is  usual  near 
Venice,  traversed  by  a  paved  walk  with  green  mosaic  of  short  grass 
between  the  rude  squares  of  its  stones,  bounded  on  one  side  by  ruinous 
garden  walls,  on  another  by  a  line  of  low  cottages,  on  the  third,  the 
base  of  the  triangle,  by  the  shallow  canal  from  which  we  have  just 
landed.  Near  the  point  of  the  triangular  space  is  a  simple  well,  bearing 
date  1502  ;  in  its  widest  part,  between  the  canal  and  campanile,  is  a 
four-square  hollow  pillar,  each  side  formed  by  a  separate  slab  of  stone, 
to  which  the  iron  hasps  are  still  attached  that  once  secured  the  Venetian 
standard. 

"The  cathedral  itself  occupies  the  northern  angle  of  the  field,  en- 
cumbered with  modern  buildings,  small  outhouse-like  chapels,  and 
wastes  of  white  wall  with  blank  square  windows,  and  itself  utterly 
defaced  in  the  whole  body  of  it,  nothing  but  the  apse  having  been  spared ; 
the  original  place  is  only  discoverable  by  careful  examination,  and  even 
then  but  partially.  The  whole  impression  and  effect  of  the  building  are 
irretrievably  lost,  but  the  fragments  of  it  are  still  most  precious." — 
Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice. 

According  to  legend,  the  foundation  of  the  Church  of 


148  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Murano  is  due  to  Otho  the  Great,  to  whom  the  Virgin  ap- 
peared in  a  vision,  showing  him  this  very  triangular  meadow 
overgrown  with  scarlet  lilies,  and  desiring  him  to  build  a 
qhurch  there  in  her  honour.  In  11 25  S.  Donato  was  joined 
with  the  Virgin  as  patron  of  the  church,  which  was  hence- 
forth called  by  his  name,  and  to  which  his  body,  brought 
from  Cephalonia,  was  presented  by  the  Doge  Domenico 
Michele.  It  is  believed  that  on  the  acquisition  of  this 
treasure  the  whole  church  was  rebuilt.  Gaily  Knight  supposes 
that  the  best  part  of  the  existing  remains  is  of  the  twelfth 
century.  The  semi-circular  apse  is  the  most  remarkable 
feature.  ^  It  has  two  stories  of  circular  arches,  intersected  by 
a  double  band  of  triangular  marbles  of  the  most  wondrous 
delicacy  of  sculpture.  Many  of  these  marbles  are  coloured, 
and  Ruskin  teaches  us  that  in  no  case  was  their  arrange- 
ment without  the  most  careful  intention.  "The  subtlety 
and  perfection  of  artistical  feeling  in  all  this  are  so  redund- 
ant, that  in  the  building  itself  the  eye  can  rest  upon  this 
coloured  chain  with  the  same  kind  of  delight  that  it  has  in  a 
piece  of  the  embroidery  of  Paul  Veronese."  The  balustrade 
round  the  upper  gallery  is  also  a  remarkable  feature.  The 
lower  stage  is  mainly  arcaded  in  red  brick. 

The  interior  of  the  church  has  been  grievously  modernized 
and  is  dismal  and  bare  in  the  extreme.  But  it  retains  the 
old  basilica  form,  the  beautiful  inlaid  pavement  of  1140, 
some  of  the  delicately  wrought  ancient  capitals,  and,  in  the 
apse,  a  sad-looking  Greek  mosaic  of  the  Madonna,  in  a  blue 
robe.     Beneath  it,  is,  in  Latin,  the  inscription  : 

"  Whom  Eve  destroyed,  the  pious  Virgin  Mary  redeemed  ; 
All  praise  her,  who  rejoice  in  the  Grace  of  Christ." 

"  At  Murano  the  Mosaic  in  the  tribune  of  the  Duomo,  executed  about 


BURANO.  149 

the  middle  of  the  I2th  century,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the 
Byzantine  revival — a  single  figure  only,  the  Virgin,  the  Greek  type — 
standing  on  a  cushion  of  cloth  of  gold,  alone  in  the  field,  and  completely 
enveloped  in  her  long  blue  robe  ;  her  hands  are  held  forth  appealingly 
towards  the  spectator,  two  large  tear-drops  hang  on  her  cheek,  settled 
sorrow  dwells  on  every  feature  ;  the  very  spirit  of  the  '  Stabat  Mater ' 
breathes  through  this  affecting  portraiture— the  silent  searching  look 
for  sympathy  is  irresistible.  The  face  not  beautiful  but  impressive 
and  dignified,  there  is  a  feeling  of  elegance  in  the  attitude,  finished  with 
care,  evidently  by  one  of  the  best  artists  of  the  time." — Lord  Lindsay's 
Christian  Art. 

The  Church  of  the  Angeli  dates  from  1187,  but  was  re- 
built in  1520.  On  the  gate  of  its  courtyard  is  a  graceful 
Annunciation  by  some  of  the  pupils  of  Donatello.  The 
Church  of  S.  Pietro,  of  the  i6th  century,  contains  a  Giovanni 
Bellini,  of  the  Madonna  and  saints,  with  the  donor,  Doge  A. 
Barberigo,  1488. 

Travellers  should  not  leave  Murano  without  visiting 
SalviaWs  Glass  Manufactory,  and  seeing  his  wonderful  imi- 
tations both  of  the  ancient  mosaics  and  of  the  old  Venetian 
glass. 


The  Path  in  the  Sea  to  Torcello. 

A  path  in  the  sea,  marked  at  intervals  with  posts,  leads 
picturesquely  across  the  shallow  lagoon  to  the  Island  of 
Burano  which  has  a  large  lace-making  population,  and  beyond 
this  to  the  Island  of  Mazzorbo,  which  is  a  vast  kitchen-garden 
for  the  inhabitants  of  Venice.     Here  there  is  an  interesting 


I50  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Gothic  doorway,  with  a  figure  of  our  Lord  and  kneeling 
figures,  under  an  ogee  canopy,  dated  a.d.  1368.     Beautifiil 


Canal  of  Burano,  Venict 

are  the  effects,  in  passing  through  the  canal  which  divides 
these  islands,  of  the  low-lying  reaches  of  wind-stricken  shore, 
with  a  tall  campanile  and  lonely  cypress.  Again  a  wide 
space  of  open  lagoon,  and,  between  banks  of  samphire  and 
low  lilac  bushes,  we  enter  the  canal  of  Torcello. 

"  Seven  miles  to  the  north  of  Venice,  the  banks  of  sand,  which  near 
the  city  rise  little  above  low-water  mark,  attain  by  degrees  a  higher 
level,  and  hoist  themselves  at  last  into  fields  of  salt  morass,  raised  here 
and  there  into  shapeless  mounds,  and  interrupted  by  narrow  creeks  of 
sea.  One  of  the  feeblest  of  these  inlets,  after  winding  for  some  time 
among  buried  fragments  of  masonry,  and  knots  of  sunburnt  weeds 
whitened  with  webs  of  fucus,  stays  itself  in  an  utterly  stagnant  pool  be- 
side a  plot  of  greener  grass  covered  with  ground-ivy  and  violets.  On  this 
mound  is  built  a  rude  brick  campanile,  of  the  commonest  Lombardic 
type,  which  if  we  ascend  towards  evening  (and  there  are  none  to  hinder 
us,  the  door  of  its  ruinous  staircase  swinging  idly  on  its  hinges),  we  may 
command  from  it  one  of  the  most  notable  scenes  in  this  wide  world  of 
ours.  Far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  a  waste  of  wild  sea  moor,  of  a  lurid 
ashen-grey  ;  not  like  our  northern  moors  with  their  jet-black  pools  and 
purple  heath,  but  lifeless,  the  colour  of  sackcloth,  with  the  corrupted 
sea-water  soaking  through  the  roots  of  its  acrid  weeds,  and  gleaming 
hither  and  thither  through  its  snaky  channels.  No  gathering  of  fan- 
tastic mists,  nor  coursing  of  clouds  across  it ;  but  melancholy  clear- 
ness of  space  in  the  warm  sunset,  oppressive,  reaching  to  the  horizon 


r 


THE  APPROACH  TO  TORCELLO.  151 

o{  its  level  gloom.  To  the  very  horizon,  011  the  north-east  ;  but  to  the 
north  and  west,  there  is  a  blue  line  of  higher  land  along  the  border  of 
it,  and  above  this,  but  farther  back,  a  misty  band  of  mountains,  touched 
with  snow.  To  the  east,  the  paleness  and  roar  of  the  Adriatic,  louder 
at  momentary  intervals  as  the  surf  breaks  on  the  bar  of  sand ;  to  the 
south,  the  widening  branches  of  the  calm  lagoon,  alternately  purple  and 
pale  green,  as  they  reflect  the  evening  clouds  or  twilight  sky  ;  and  almost 
beneath  our  feet,  on  the  same  field  which  sustains  the  tower  we  gaze 
from,  a  group  of  four  buildings,  two  of  them  little  larger  than  cottages 
(though  built  of  stone,  and  one  adorned  by  a  quaint  belfry),  the  third  an 
octagonal  chapel,  of  which  we  can  see  but  little  more  than  the  flat  red 
roof  with  its  rayed  tiling,  the  fourth,  a  considerable  church  with  nave 
and  aisles,  but  of  which,  in  like  manner,  we  can  see  little  but  the  long 
central  ridge  and  lateral  slopes  of  roof,  which  the  sunlight  separates  in 
one  glowing  mass  from  the  green  field  beneath  and  grey  moor  beyond. 
There  are  no  living  creatures  near  the  buildings,  nor  any  vestige  of  vil- 
lage or  city  round  about  them.  They  lie  like  a  little  company  of  ships 
becalmed  on  a  far-away  sea. 

"Then  look  farther  to  the  south.  Beyond  the  widening  branches  of  the 
lagoon,  and  rising  out  of  the  bright  lake  into  which  they  gather,  there 
are  a  multitude  of  towers,  dark,  and  scattered  among  square-set  shapes 
of  clustered  palaces,  a  long  irregular  line  fretting  the  southern  sky 

"  Mother  and  daughter,  you  behold  them  both  in  their  widowhood, — 
Torcello  and  Venice. 

"  Thirteen  hundred  years  ago,  the  grey  moorland  looked  as  it  does 
this  day,  and  the  purple  mountains  stood  as  radiantly  in  the  deep  dis- 
tances of  evening ;  but  on  the  line  of  the  horizon,  there  were  strange 
fires  mixed  with  the  light  of  sunset,  and  the  lament  of  many  human 
voices  mixed  with  the  fretting  of  the  waves  on  their  ridges  of  sand.  The 
flames  rose  from  the  ruins  of  Altinum  ;  the  lament  from  the  multitude 
of  its  people,  seeking,  like  Israel  of  old,  a  refuge  from  the  sword  in  tlie 
paths  of  the  sea. 

"  The  cattle  are  feeding  and  resting  upon  the  site  of  the  city  that  they 
left ;  the  mower's  scythe  swept  this  day  at  dawn  over  the  chief  street  of 
the  city  that  they  built,  and  the  swathes  of  soft  grass  are  now  sending 
up  their  scent  into  the  night  air,  the  only  incense  that  fills  the  temple  of 
their  ancient  worship.  Let  us  go  down  into  that  little  space  of  meadow 
land. 

"  The  inlet  which  runs  nearest  to  the  base  of  the  campanile  is  not 
that  by  which  Torcello  is  commonly  approached.  Another,  somewhat 
broader,  and  overhung  by  alder  copse,  winds  out  of  the  main  channel  of 
the  lagoon  up  to  the  very  edge  of  the  little  meadow  which  was  once  the 


1S2  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Piazza  of  the  city,  and  there,  stayed  by  a  few  grey  stones  which  present 
some  semblance  of  a  quay,  forms  its  boundary  at  one  extremity.  Hardly 
larger  than  an  English  farm-yard,  and  roughly  enclosed  on  each  side  by 
broken  palings  and  hedges  of  honeysuckle  and  briar,  the  narrow  field 
retires  from  the  water's  edge,  traversed  by  a  scarcely  traceable  footpath, 
for  some  forty  or  fifty  paces,  and  then  expanding  into  the  form  of  a  small 
square,  with  buildmgs  on  three  sides  of  it,  the  fourth  being  that  which 
opens  to  the  water.  Two  of  these,  that  on  our  left  and  that  in  front  of 
us  as  we  approach  from  the  canal,  are  so  small  that  they  might  well  be 
taken  for  the  out-houses  of  the  farm,  though  the  first  is  a  conventual 
building,  and  the  other  aspires  to  the  title  of  the  '  Palazzo  Pubblico,'  both 
dating  as  far  back  as  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century ;  the  third, 
the  octagonal  church  of  Santa  Fosca,  is  far  more  ancient  than  either,  yet 
hardly  on  a  larger  scale.  Though  the  pillars  of  the  portico  which  sur- 
rounds it  are  of  pure  Greek  marble,  and  their  capitals  are  enriched  with 
delicate  sculpture,  they,  and  the  arches  they  sustain,  together  only  raise 
the  roof  to  the  height  of  a  cattle-shed  ;  and  the  first  strong  impression 
which  the  spectator  receives  from  the  whole  scene  is,  that  whatever  sin 
it  may  have  been  which  has  on  this  spot  been  visited  with  so  utter  a 
desolation,  it  could  not  at  least  have  been  ambition.  Nor  will  this 
impression  be  diminished  as  we  approach,  or  enter,  the  larger  church 
to  which  the  whole  group  of  building  is  subordinate.  It  has  evidently 
been  built  by  men  in  flight  and  distress  ;  who  sought  in  the  hurried 
erection  of  their  island  church  such  a  shelter  for  their  earnest  and  sor- 
rowful worship,  as,  on  the  one  hand,  would  not  attract  the  eyes  of  their 
enemies  by  its  splendour,  and  yet,  on  the  other,  might  not  awaken  too 
bitter  feelings  by  its  contrast  with  the  churches  which  they  had  seen  de- 
stroyed. There  is  visible  everywhere  a  simple  and  tender  effort  to 
recover  some  of  the  form  of  the  temples  which  they  had  loved,  and  to  do 
honour  to  God  by  that  which  they  were  erecting,  while  distress  and 
humiliation  prevented  the  desire,  and  prudence  precluded  the  admission, 
either  of  luxury  of  ornament  or  magnificence  of  plan.  The  exterior  is 
absolutely  devoid  of  decoration,  with  the  exception  only  of  the  western 
entrance  and  the  lateral  door,  of  which  the  former  has  carved  side-posts 
and  architrave,  and  the  latter  crosses  of  rich  sculpture  ;  while  the  massy 
stone  shutters  of  the  windows,  turning  on  huge  rings  of  stone,  which 
answer  the  double  purpose  of  stanchions  and  brackets,  cause  the  whole 
building  rather  to  resemble  a  refuge  from  Alpine  storm  than  the  cathe- 
dral of  a  populous  city ;  and,  internally,  the  two  solemn  mosaics  of  the 
eastern  and  western  extremities, — one  representing  the  Last  Judgment, 
the  other  the  Madonna,  her  tears  falling  as  her  hands  are  raised  to  bless, 
— and  the  noble  range  of  pillars  which  enclose  the  space  between,  ter- 


THE  MOTHER  CHURCH.  153 

minated  by  the  high  throne  for  the  pastor,  and  the  semi-circular  raised 
seats  for  the  superior  clergy,  are  expressive  at  once  of  the  deep  sorrow 
and  the  sacred  courage  of  men  who  had  no  home  left  them  upon  earth,  but 
who  looked  for  one  to  come,  of  men,  '  persecuted  but  not  forsaken,  cast 
down  but  not  destroyed.'  " — Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice,  ii.  2. 

' '  Two  hundred  years  after  the  invasion  of  Attila  had  driven  many  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Aquileja  and  Altina  from  their  homes,  the  province 
was  desolated  by  the  Lombards.  The  Altinese,  alarmed  at  their  approach, 
anxiovisly  deliberated  whether  they  should  remain  to  face  this  '  Australis 
plaga,'  or  seek  safety  in  flight,  when  they  beheld  vast  flocks  of  birds, 
with  their  fledglings  in  their  beaks,  take  flight  from  the  city  walls  and 
towers,  and  direct  their  course  seaward.  Regarding  this  as  a  sign  from 
heaven,  some  departed  to  Ravenna,  some  to  Pentapolis,  and  others  to 
Istria,  leaving  behind  them  a  band  of  devout  persons,  who  in  order  to 
obtain  a  more  direct  manifestation  of  the  will  of  heaven  determined  to 
fast  and  pray  for  three  days,  according  to  the  advice  of  their  bishop, 
Paulus.  At  the  end  of  that  time  they  heard  a  voice  like  thunder, 
saying,  *  Ascend  into  the  city  tower  and  look  at  the  stars.'  They  beheld 
a  vision  of  boats,  and  ships,  and  islands,  and  taking  this  as  an  indication 
that  their  course  should  be  directed  seaward,  they  removed  their  most 
precious  possessions  to  the  island  of  Torcello.  .  .  .  Paulus,  Bishop  of 
Altina,  migrated  with  his  flock,  their  relics,  and  treasure,  to  Torcello  and 
the  neighbouring  islands,  a.d.  641." — Perkin's  Italian  Sculptors. 

Amongst  the  external  features  of  Torcello  is  the  marble 
seat — low-lying  amongst  the  rye-grass — called  Attila's 
Throne. 

The  Cathedral,  which  was  rebuilt,  evidently  exactly  in 
the  form  of  an  early  church,  in  the  beginning  of  the  nth 
century,  has  many  curious  mosaics  of  the  same  date,  and 
probably  by  the  same  artist  as  that  at  Murano.  It  has 
three  parallel  naves  of  ten  bays,  ending  in  apses.  The 
columns  dividing  the  nave  from  the  aisles,  are  of  veined 
marble,  with  exquisitely  wrought  capitals,  half  Corinthian, 
half  Byzantine.  The  choir  is  fenced  off  by  a  marble  screen, 
"  the  prototype  of  that  at  S.  Mark's,"  and  is  adorned  with 
sculptures  of  lions  and  peacocks,  probably  brought  from 
Aquileja. 


154 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


"  North -west  of  the  rood-screen  stands  the  marble  ambon — a  pulpit 
of  two  divisions,  one  (circular)  facing  south,  the  other  (square)  facing 
west.  This  and  the  staircase  leading  to  it  are  full  of  delicate  and  good 
carved  work.  The  arrangement  has  an  absurd  likeness  to  many  a 
modem  English  scheme  of  pulpit  and  reading  pew,  and  there  is  certainly 
force  in  the  obser\'ation,  that  such  an  arrangement  would  never  have 


Torcello. 


been  thought  of,  unless  the  Gospel  was  to  be  understood  by  the  people. 
Now  they  do  not  understand  it,  it  is  no  longer  said  from  an  ambon,  and 
ambons  seem  to  be  much  less  useful  to  the  Romans  than  rood-screens 
are  to  us  ! " — Street. 

The  cathedral  has  been  greatly  injured,  and  its  exterior 
completely  modernized,  during  injudicious  and  hasty  repairs 
under  the  Austrians,  when  the  new  roof  was  put  on.  The 
most  perfect  portion  is  its  Baptiste^  or  the  Church  of  S. 
Fosca,  connected  with  it  by  a  cloister.  It  is  a  square 
church,  with  small  projections  on  either  side,  and  a  deeper 
one  on  the  east,  where  the  high  altar  is  raised  above  the 
relics  of  the  virgin  martyr  Fosca,  who  suffered  under  Decius. 

"  There  are  three  eastern  apses,  and  the  western  side  is  screened  by 


TORCELLO.  155 

an  open  cloister,  which  is  octagonal  in  plan.  The  square  centre  is 
domed  on  very  simple  pendentives,  and  the  capitals  are  similar  in 
character  to  those  in  the  cathedral.  The  best  detail  is  to  be  seen  out- 
side the  east  end,  where  there  is  some  good  arcading  and  an  enriched 
band  of  chevron  ornament,  formed  by  recessing  the  brickwork,  and  a 
mixture  of  red  and  buff  brickwork,  which  is  very  effective." — Street. 

"  At  Torcello  everything  is  on  the  tiniest  scale  ;  you  can  touch  with 
your  hand  the  capitals  of  the  columns  that  support  the  roof,  and  though 
the  basilica  be  a  respectably-sized  parish  church,  its  title  of  Duomo  pre- 
pares one  to  expect  a  building  of  far  greater  magnitude.  The  contrast 
is  striking  too  in  other  respects.  The  spot  once  so  populous  is  now 
almost  utterly  abandoned.  The  two  churches,  the  baptistery  and  steeple, 
an  isolated  marble  column,  an  ancient  well,  sculptured  with  the  Greek 
cross,  the  Archivio  and  Tribunal  (such  no  longer)— these,  and  one 
or  two  dilapidated  buildings,  all  closely  adjacent,  are  the  sole  remains 
of  the  ancient  town,  and  form  now  the  centre  of  a  wilderness  ;  the 
piazza  which  they  encircled,  is  completely  overgrown  with  grass  and 
encircled  by  hedgerows — a  narrow  pathway  is  the  only  street ;  the  little 
birds  sing  amid  the  profound  silence — and  on  finishing  your  survey,  you 
will  probably  find  yourself  leaning  against  the  marble  pillars  which  once 
sustained  the  flag-staff  of  the  republic,  long  before  those  of  her  tributary 
principalities,  Cyprus  and  Candia,  waved  in  the  breeze.  I  know  nothing 
in  its  way  like  Torcello  ;  it  is  a  scene  siii  generis  for  simplicity  and  soli- 
tude,— and  yet  not  melancholy,  for  they  are  not  the  ruins  of  fallen  great- 
ness ;  the  emotions  excited  are  akin  rather  to  those  one  experiences  in 
visiting  the  source  of  some  mighty  river,  or  gazing  at  the  portrait  of  a 
hero  in  his  childhood." — Lindsay's  Christian  Art. 

The  chancel  of  the  cathedral  is  most  remarkable,  the 
seats  rising  in  tiers  with  the  semi-circular  form  of  a  theatre. 

"  There  is  one  circumstance  which  we  ought  to  remember  as  giving 
peculiar  significance  to  the  position  which  the  episcopal  throne  occupies 
in  the  island  church,  namely,  that  in  the  minds  of  all  early  Christians 
the  Church  itself  was  most  frequently  symbolized  under  the  image  of  a 
ship,  of  which  the  bishop  was  the  pilot.  Consider  the  force  which  this 
symbol  would  assume  in  the  imaginations  of  men  to  whom  the  spiritual 
Church  had  become  an  ark  of  refuge  in  the  midst  of  a  destruction  hardly 
less  terrible  than  that  from  which  the  eight  souls  were  saved  of  old,  a 
destruction  m  which  the  wrath  of  man  had  become  as  broad  as  the 
earth  and  as  merciless  as  the  sea,  and  who  saw  the  actual  and  literal 
edifice  of  the  Church  raised  up,  itself  like  an  ark  in  the  midst  of  the 
waters.  No  marvel  if  with  the  surf  of  the  Adriatic  rolling  between  them 


1 56  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

and  the  shores  of  their  birth,  from  which  they  were  separated  for 
ever,  they  should  have  looked  upon  each  other  as  the  disciples  did  when 
the  storm  came  down  on  Tiberias  Lake,  and  have  yielded  ready  and 
loving  obedience  to  those  who  ruled  them  in  His  name,  who  had  there 
rebuked  the  winds  and  commanded  stillness  to  the  sea.  And  if  the 
stranger  would  yet  learn  in  what  spirit  it  was  that  the  dominion  of  Venice 
was  begun,  and  in  what  strength  she  went  forth  conquering  and  to  con- 
quer, let  him  not  seek  to  estimate  the  wealth  of  her  arsenals  or  numbers 
of  her  armies  ;  nor  look  upon  the  pageantry  of  her  palaces,  nor  enter 
into  the  secrets  of  her  councils  ;  but  let  him  ascend  the  highest  tier  of 
the  stern  ledges  that  sweep  round  the  altar  of  Torcello,  and  then,  look- 
ing as  the  pilot  did  of  old  along  the  marble  ribs  of  the  goodly  temple- 
ship,  let  him  re-people  its  ruined  deck  with  the  shadows  of  its  dead 
mariners,  and  strive  to  feel  in  himself  the  strength  of  heart  that  was 
kindled  within  them,  when  first,  after  the  pillars  of  it  had  settled  in  the 
sand,  and  the  roof  of  it  had  been  closed  against  the  angry  sky  that  was 
still  reddened  by  the  fires  of  their  homesteads, — first,  within  the  shelter 
of  its  knitted  walls,  amidst  the  murmur  of  the  waste  of  waves  and  the 
beating  of  the  wings  of  the  sea-birds  round  the  rock  that  was  strange  to 
them, — rose  that  ancient  hymn,  in  the  power  of  their  gathered  voices  : 
— '  The  sea  is  His,  and  He  made  it :  and  His  hands  prepared  the  dry 
land. ' " — Ruskin,  Stones  of  Venice. 


The  excursion  to  Torcello  forms  a  fitting  close  to  a  stay 
at  Venice,  which  no  one  who  has  stayed  long  enough  to 
enjoy  its  melancholy  beauty  can  leave  without  regret. 

"  Prime  model  of  a  Christian  commonwealth 
Thou  wise  simplicity,  which  present  men 
Calumniate,  not  conceiving, — ^joy  is  mine, 
That  I  have  read  and  learnt  thee  as  I  ought, 
Not  in  the  rude  compiler's  painted  shell. 
But  in  thine  own  memorials  of  live  stone. 
And  in  the  pictures  of  thy  kneeling  princes, 
And  in  the  lofty  words  on  lofty  tombs, 
And  in  the  breath  of  ancient  chroniclers. 
And  in  the  music  of  the  outer  sea." — Monckton  Milnes. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 
TREVISO,  UDINE,  AND  AQUILEJA. 

These  places  will  probably  be  visited  by  many  travellers  who  go  by 
rail  from  Venice  to  Vienna.  Except  by  those  who  are  sufficiently 
interested  in  history  to  make  the  (well-worth)  pilgrimage  to  Aquileja, 
they  will  not  be  made  the  subject  of  a  separate  excursion. 

THE  railway  to  Trieste  branches  off  from  the  Milan 
line  at  Mestre,  and  reaches  : — 

26  kiL  Treviso  {Inns.  Qiiattro  Corone,  very  good,  though 
of  humble  exterior.  Posta.)  This  town,  in  its  narrow 
winding  arcaded  streets  has  a  reminiscence  of  Venice.  In 
the  centre  is  : — 

The  Cathedral  of  S.  Fietro,  chiefly  brick,  and  modernised 
in  the  15th  century  by  Tullio  Lombardo,  and  with  a  classic 
portico,  on  the  steps  of  which  the  ancient  red  lions  remain. 
It  has  five  cupolas. 

Hight,  2nd  Chapel.     Paris  Bordone.     The  Nativity. 

Chapel  right  of  High  Altar.  Titian.  The  Annunciation.  The 
fresco  of  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  and  the  Salutation  above,  are  by 
Poj'denone. 

The  High  Altar  is  by  Tullio  Lombardo,  as  well  as  the  fine  tomb 
near  it  of  Bishop  Zannetti. 

*Left,  yd  Chapel.  Fr.  Bissolo  (1504),  a  native  of  Treviso,  a  pupil  of 
G.  Bellini.  S.  Barbara  with  SS.  Catherine  and  John  Baptist  and 
the  donor.     A  beautiful  picture. 

2nd  Chapel.    Paris  Bordone.     Madonna  and  four  Saints. 

A  little  to  the  left  (from  the  west  front  of  the  cathedral) 


158  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

is  the  fine  brick  Dominican  Church  of  S.  Niccolb  di  Bart, 
one  of  the  loftiest  and  largest  Gothic  parish  churches  in 
Italy.  It  was  built  by  two  Dominican  architects,  13 10- 
1352.  The  immense  nave  ends  in  a  tribune,  and  is  sepa- 
rated from  its  aisles  by  enormous  pillars,  upon  which  there 
are  frescoes.    On  the  right  wall  is  a  gigantic  S.  Christopher. 

High  Altar.  Marco  Pensaben  and  his  pupil  Maraveja,  1520. 
Madonna  throned,  with  saints  and  angels. 

Lefi  of  Choir.  The  tomb  of  Conte  d'Onigo,  by  Tullio  Lombardo, 
1794. 

Chapel  right  of  High  Altar.  Giovanni  Bellini  (or  Sebastian  del 
Piombo  ?  )  Christ  and  the  Twelve  Apostles  :  the  donor  and  his  family 
beneath. 

Sacristy.     Paolo  Fiamingo.     The  Magdalen. 

Amongst  the  innumerable  pictures  in  the  other  buildings 
we  need  only  notice  a  Dead  Christ  in  the  Monte  di  Fietd, 
a  fine  and  undoubted  work  of  Giorgione. 

After  crossing  the  immense  generally  dry  bed  of  the 
Piave,  we  reach — 

55  kil.  Conegiiano  {Inn,  Fosta.)  In  the  Church  of 
S.  Lorenzo  is  an  altar-piece  by  the  native  painter  Giovanni 
Battista  Cima,  generally  called  "  Cima  da  Conegiiano," 
who  was  born  here  in  1460.  This  is  the  starting-point  by 
diligence  for  Belluno  (see  ch.  xx). 

83  kil.  Pordenone — (Portus  Naonis).  {Inn,  Posta.)  The 
Cathedral  has  a  magnificent  companile  and  contains  : — 

Right,  1st  Altar.  S.  Christopher  with  the  Holy  Family,  by  the 
native  painter  Giovanni  Antonio  Licinio,  commonly  called  "II 
Pordenone,"  born  here,  1484  :  his  great  works  are  at  Piacenza. 

109  kil.  Cadroipo.  A  little  to  the  right  is  the  village  of 
Campo-Formio,  where  the  treaty  was  made,  Oct.  18,  1797,  by 
which  lUyria,  Dalmatia  and  Venice  were  ceded  to  Austria. 


I 


UDINE.  IS9 

132  kil.  Udine.  {Inn.  Italia,  excellent  and  reasonable) 
— the  old  capital  of  Friuli,  united  to  Venice  in  1420.  It  is 
a  most  pleasant  and  prosperous  place,  and  it  can  only  have 
been  a  hostile  pen  which  \vrote  the  old  proverb, — 

"  Udine,  giardini  senza  fiori,  castel  senza  cannoni,  fontane  senza 
acqua,  nobilta  senza  creanza." 

In  the  midst  of  the  town  is  the  Cathedral,  built  in  1 5 1 7 
by  Giovanni  Fontana,  on  an  artificial  hill  which  tradition 
declares  to  have  been  thrown  up  by  Attila,  in  order  that 
from  thence  he  might  the  better  behold  the  burning  of 
Aquileja.  At  its  foot  is  the  Piazza  di  S.  Giovanni,  which 
has  a  Palazzo  with  a  loggia  now  disused,  standing  on 
a  broad  stone  platform,  decorated  with  a  fountain,  pillars, 
and  statues ;  the  statue  at  the  end,  representing  Maria 
Louisa,  was  erected  after  the  treaty  of  Campo-Formio. 

The  beautiful  Qio\}civc  Palazzo  Pubblico,  of  1457,  rests  upon 
an  open  colonjiade,  which  has  a  gothic  balustrade  of  marble 
and  serpentine,  and  under  which  is  a  Madonna  of  1516, 
by  Pordenone. 

A  little  to  the  right  is  the  Cathedral^  which  has  an  octa- 
gonal tower,  and  a  gothic  front  with  some  curious  reliefs. 
It  contains  : — 

Left,  \st  Altar.  Gimanni  Martina  da  Udine,  1501.  S.  Mark 
throned,  with  two  bishops  below. 

Left,  2nd  Altar.  Martina  da  Udine,  1 502.  S.  Joseph  with  the  In- 
fant Jesus  and  S.  John.  A  most  lovely  picture.  S.  John,  a  beauti- 
ful youth,  leans  against  the  parapet  of  a  portico  and  gazes  up  at  the 
child  in  the  arms  of  the  old  man. 

Right  Aisle.  Tomb  of  Bishop  Zaccharia  Briceto,  "  Angelo  di  carita," 
erected  by  his  people,  1851. 

The  hotel  at  Udine  is  a  good  one  (with  German  cleanli- 
ness), and   all  travellers  should  stay  here  two  nights,  in 


l6o  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

order  to  make  the  very  important  excursion  to  Aquileja, 
for  which  this  is  far  the  best  starting-point.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  Aquileja  is  still  just  within  the  Austrian  frontier ;  but 
its  history  and  associations  so  connect  it  with  Italy,  that  a 
thorough  Italian  tour  would  still  be  as  incomplete  without 
visiting  it,  as  it  would  have  been  without  a  visit  to  Venice, 
when  that  was  no  longer  Italian. 

(It  is  about  i8  miles — 3  hours'  drive — from  Udine  to  Aquileja.  The 
landlord  will  make  an  arrangement  for  i8frs.,  by  which  a  little  carriage 
may  be  taken  to  Palma  (midway)  and  there  exchanged  for  a  fresh  carriage 
and  horse,  the  driver  of  the  first  carriage  awaiting  the  return  and  under- 
taking all  the  payments. 

The  help  of  a  Sacristan  is  necessary  at  Aquileja  to  open  doors,  &c. 
The  schoolmaster  will  send  for  him.  He  should  be  desired  to  bring  his 
telescope,  if  the  Campanile  be  ascended. 

If  the  traveller  have  any  small  Austrian  money,  he  may  take  it  to 
Aquileja  with  advantage,  but  Italian  money  will  pass.) 

The  road  to  Aquileja  crosses  a  level,  richly-cultivated 
plain.  Midway  we  reach  the  strongly-fortified  town  of 
Palma  Nuova,  which  has  clear  streams  running  down  all 
the  streets,  and  a  large  piazza  with  quaint  statues  at  each 
street  corner. 

There  are  quantities  of  shrines  along  the  road.  The  driver 
touches  his  hat  to  them  all,  but  when  he  passes  a  church 
he  takes  it  off  altogether,  for  this  is  almost  Austria,  and 
religion  has  not,  as  they  say,  "  gone  out "  here,  as  it  has  in 
Italy  generally,  since  it  became  "  Unita."  At  Strassoldo, 
two  little  huts  painted  black  and  yellow,  and  a  DoganierCy 
announce  that  we  have  entered  Austria  (no  paper  or  pass- 
port necessary).  Then,  across  the  endless  lines  of  white 
mulberries,  a  huge  campanile  rises  in  pale  pink  shadow 
against  the  aerial  distance.     It  is  Aquileja. 

Except  that  the   country  is  very   fertile,  the  approach 


APPROACH    TO    AQUILEJA.  i6i 

would  remind  us  of  that  to  Ostia.  Aquileja  lies  in  the  same 
way  near  a  sea  which  has  receded,  one  great  building 
stranded  in  the  desolation,  and  the  fields  all  around  are 
littered  in  the  same  way  with  fragments  of  brick  and  marble, 
while  pillars  and  capitals  may  frequently  be  seen  lying  neg- 
lected amongst  the  rank  grass.  A  Roman  colony  was 
settled  here  in  b.c.  i8i,  when  the  accidental  omen  of  an 
eagle  gave  it  the  name  of  Aquileja,  and  it  speedily  rose  to 
the  greatest  wealth  and  prosperity.  It  became  the  great 
centre  for  the  traffic  of  Italy  with  the  north  and  east  of 
Europe,  was  enriched  by  the  discovery  of  gold-mines  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  was  chosen  by  Caesar  as  the  head- 
quarters of  his  legions  in  Cisalpine  Gaul.  As  late  as  the 
fourth  century  it  was  reckoned  by  Ausonius  as  the  ninth 
city  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  amongst  those  of  Italy 
only  inferior  to  Capua  and  Milan.  It  safely  survived  many 
dangers.  In  a.d.  238  it  was  besieged  by  Maximin,  who 
was  murdered  by  his  own  soldiers  while  investing  it;  in 
A.D.  340  it  beheld  the  younger  Constantine  defeated  and 
slain,  almost  beneath  its  walls  ;  and  in  388  it  saw  the  defeat 
of  the  usurper  Maximus  by  the  Emperor  Theodosius  the 
Great,  and  his  death.  But  in  A.D.  452  it  was  besieged, 
taken,  and  totally  destroyed  by  Attila,  king  of  the  Huns. 

On  the  site  of  the  famous  town  of  Augustus,  which  had 
more  than  100,000  inhabitants,  there  are  now  only  a  few 
low  cottages,  and  the  one  gigantic  church  which  has  risen 
upon  the  fragments  of  the  early  Christian  cathedral — the 
crypt,  baptistery  and  campanile — which  alone  were  spared 
when  every  other  building  was  so  totally  destroyed  by  Attila 
in  452,  in  revenge  for  the  resistance  he  encountered  here, 
that  scarcely  a  stone  remained  perfect.     The  inhabitants 

VOL.  H.  n 


1 62 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


had  already  fled  with  their  treasures  to  Grado  and  to  Torcello, 
and  thus  the  destruction  of  Aquileja  became  the  foundation 
of  Venice. 


Aquileja. 

The  church — long  the  cathedral,  now  only  z.parrbcchia — 
has  little  ornament  outside.  It  belongs  mostly  to  the  early 
part  of  the  eleventh  century,  when  the  pillars  which  had 
been  thrown  down  were  again  raised  upon  their  foundations 
and  newly  enclosed.  At  the  west  end  is  a  low  portico,  sup- 
ported by  heavy  pillars,  leading  to  the  small  solid  church 
which  was  spared  in  the  destruction  of  the  ancient  city.  It 
contains  a  fresco  of  SS.  John  Baptist  and  Nicholas.  Here 
a  number  of  early  inscriptions  and  other  fragments  have 
been  collected.  Through  this  we  enter  the  baptistery  used 
for  immersion  in  the  time  of  Constantine,  surrounded  by  six 
pillars,  but  now  open  to  the  air.  This  church  and  bap- 
tistery are  believed  to  date  from  the  time  of  S.  Ermagora, 
the  first  apostle  of  Friuli  and  bishop  of  Aquileja,  who  is  said 
to  have  been  consecrated  by  S.  Peter  himself,  and  to  have 
been  succeeded  by  the  holy  deacon  S.  Fortunato.  In  the 
little  forecourt  are  a  number  of  ancient  tombs,  capitals  of 
columns,  &c.    The  ruined  pillars  on  the  south  of  the  church 


CATHEDRAL    OF  AQUILEJA. 


163 


are  said  to  have  belonged  to  the  portico  which  led  to  the 
palace  of  the  patriarch. 

The  Interior  of  the  church  is  most  stately  and  impressive. 
The  immense  nave  is  separated  from  the  very  wide  aisles 
by  magnificent  ranges  of  columns,  two  on  each  side,  with 
glorious  Corinthian  capitals,  supporting  pointed  arches. 
The  roof  is  of  wood,  like  that  of  the  Eremitani  at  Padua, 
cusped,  boarded,  and  panelled  in  small  square  panels.  At 
the  end  of  the  nave  a  great  flight  of  steps  ascends  to  the 
tribune. 

Right  and  left  of  entrance.  Two  splendid  capitals,  used  as  Holy 
Water  basons. 

Right.  The  Chapel  of  SS.  Ambrose  and  Margaret,  of  1298,  con- 
taining magnificent  marble  tombs  of  the  Delia  Torre  family,  (the  arms 
a  tower)  one  of  whom  was  Patriarch  and  another  Treasurer  of  this 
church. 

At  the  angle  of  the  wall.  A  figure  of  the  sainted  Bishop  Siro,  who  fore, 
told  the  destruction  by  Attila  many  years  before. 

Sacristy.  The  mitre,  sandals,  and  four-sided  berretto  of  Bishop 
Popponi,  under  whom  the  present  cathedral  was  built.  In  the  library 
above  is  an  ancient  gilt  figure  of  S.  Ermagora. 


Throne  of  ihe  Patriar-h,  Aquileja. 


A  chapel,    with   a   most   glorious   marble   screen   with   symbolical 
subjects. 

The  tomb,  with  agate  panels,  raised  on  four  pillars,  which  contained 


I64  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

the  relics  of  S.  Quirinus,  given,  with  those  of  S.  Marco  Vescovo,  by 
John  XIX.  in  1031.  These  relics  were  removed  and  divided  between 
the  cathedrals  of  Udine  and  Gorizia,  when  the  bisliopric  was  taken 
away  firom  Aquileja, 

The  Choir  has  a  cinque-cento  screen.  Behind  the  altar  is  a  picture 
of  saints,  attributed  to  G.  Bellini,  and,  beneath  it,  the  throne  of  the 
Patriarch  Popponi,  of  white  marble  and  serpentine,  approached  by 
steps. 

The  tomb  of  S.  Marco  Vescovo,  adorned  with  statuettes. 

Left  Aisle.  A  very  odd  circular  building  with  a  cone-like  roofl  Its 
object  is  unknown.  Some  say  it  was  a  baptistery,  and  some  for  contain- 
ing holy  oil,  &c. 

The  Crypt  vn  anterior  to  the  destruction  by  Attila.  It  contains  the 
relics  of  S.  Ermagora.  In  spite  of  the  immense  iron  bars  with  which 
they  were  protected,  its  treasures  were  robbed  in  1821. 

The  great  Campanile  stands  in  the  cemetery  quite  de- 
tached from  the  church.  It  is  well  worth  ascending  for  the 
sake  of  its  wonderful  view  of  the  Alps,  of  Trieste  and 
Miramar,  and  of  the  lagunes  of  Aquileja,  which  are  some- 
thing like  those  of  Venice.  Not  far  from  the  mainland  is 
the  Island  of  Grado,  crowded  with  fishermen's  houses — dis- 
tinctly visible  through  the  telescope.  The  church  of  Grado 
— "  Venetae  orae  Istriaeque  Ecclesiarum  caput  et  mater  " — 
somewhat  resembles  that  of  Aquileja,  though  much 
smaller.  There  was  always  great  jealousy  between  the  two 
churches,  which  came  to  a  climax  in  1156,  when  the 
patriarch  of  Aquileja  at  the  head  of  his  canons  took  Grado 
unawares,  and,  having  plundered  the  church,  was  carrying 
off  his  booty  to  his  vessels,  when  he  was  arrested  by  the 
arrival  of  a  fleet  from  Venice.  The  patriarch  obtained  his 
liberty,  but  was  forced  to  pay  a  ransom  which  was  to  bear 
witness  to  the  contempt  in  which  the  spiritual  dignity  of 
Aquileja  was  held  at  Venice.  Every  year  thenceforth  on 
Giovedi  Grasso  {Zioba  grasso,  in  the  Venetian  dialect)  the 


CRADO.  165 

patriarch  of  Aquileja  was  forced  to  send  to  Venice  a  bull 
and  twelve  boar  pigs,  a  deputation  representing  himself  and 
his  chapter.  They  were  paraded  through  the  streets,  and 
afterwards  slaughtered  with  mock  solemnities  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  Doge,  who  distributed  their  flesh  to  the 
people. 

Grado  is  well  worthy  of  a  visit,  but  very  seldom  seen, 
for  it  takes  three  hours  to  reach  in  a  boat  by  the  canal,  and 
the  traveller  who  would  go  there  must  return  to  sleep  at 
Palma  and  start  early  next  day,  or  sleep  at  the  little  inn  at 
Aquileja ;  but  if  he  has  travelled  south  in  the  Volscian  and 
Hemican  mountains,  he  will  have  slept  in  many  worse 
places.  All  that  the  guide-books  have  copied  from  one 
another  as  to  the  malaria  at  Aquileja  is  either  ignorance  or 
invention  :  it  is  a  very  healthy  place,  with  a  flourishing  little 
population. 

Every  day  more  antiquities  are  discovered  at  Aquileja, 
and  a  Museum  of  the  minor  objects  found  has  been  formed 
at  the  house  of  the  Podesta.  Some  of  the  Scavi  recently 
opened,  and  the  different  ranges  of  building  found  one 
beneath  another,  have  given  rise  to  the  belief  that  the  town 
must  have  been  destroyed  and  risen  again  three  separate 
times, 

(Another  interesting  excursion  may  be  made  from  Udine 
— about  12  miles — to  Cividale  (Forum  Julii),  where  a 
quantity  of  Roman  remains  have  been  discovered  and  are 
arranged  in  a  Museum.  The  curious  tomb  of  Duke  Gisulf 
ofFriuli  has  lately  been  found  here.  In  the  Church  of 
S.  Maria  de"  Battuti  is  a  Madonna  with  saints  by  Pellegrino 
di  San  Daniello,  1529.) 


CHAPTER    XXXL 
FERRARA. 

By  the   quick   train  it  is   2|  hrs.  from  Venice  to  Ferrara. — 14  fir.  ; 

10  fr.  25  c. 
Inns :    Stella  d'Oro,  best,  facing  the  castle ;  Europa,  in  the   Corso ; 

Tre  Corone. 

FERRARA  is  one  of  the  most  Italian  of  Italian  towns, 
and  one  of  the  most  melancholy.  Its  interest  is 
entirely  of  the  past.  It  seems  to  have  gone  to  sleep  in  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  when  it  was  annexed  to  the 
States  of  the  Church,  and  never  to  have  awakened.  All  its 
prosperity  was  mediaeval,  when  the  House  of  Este  ruled 
here,  and  when  its  court  was  the  most  brilliant  in  Europe, 
especially  in  the  time  of  the  Duchess  Renee,  who  gave  sanc- 
tuary here  to  so  many  distinguished  refugees,  including  the 
Protestant  divines  Calvin  and  Marot,  Aonio  Paleario, 
and  the  famous  Olympia  Morata. 

The  Dukes  of  Ferrara  of  the  House  of  Este  were  descended  from 
Giulio,  the  second  son  of  Welf,  Duke  of  Bavaria.  In  the  14th  century 
Obizzo  d'Este  III.  increased  the  power  of  his  house  by  adding  Modena 
and  Reggio  to  his  dominions.  In  1452,  Borso  d'Este,  celebrated  for  the 
magnificence  of  his  life,  received  the  title  of  Duke  of  Modena  and 
Reggio  from  the  Emperor  Frederick  III.,  and  that  of  Duke  of  Ferrara 
from  Pope  Paul  II.  He  died  in  1471,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
brother,  the  great  Duke  Hercules  I.  (1471 — 1505),  under  whom  the 
size  of  the  capital  was  doubled.  Alfonso  I.  (1505 — 34),  the  son  of 
Hercules,  was  the  third  husband  of  Lucrezia  Borgia,  still  only  in  her 


HISTORY   OF  FERRARA.  167 

twenty-fifth  year,  who  amended  her  life  while  at  Ferrara,  and  died  here 
in  15 19,  greatly  beloved  and  respected.*  The  brother  of  Alfonso 
was  Cardinal  Ippolito  d'Este,  the  friend  of  Ariosto,  of  whom  Brantome 
says  :  "  No  prince  or  prelate  ever  showed  himself  more  noble,  splendid, 
or  liberal."  Hercules  II.,  the  son  of  Alphonso  (1534—1558),  and  his 
wife  Kenee  were  the  patrons  of  the  Protestant  divines.  Their  son 
Alfonso  II.,  who  died  childless,  was  the  patron  of  Tasso  and  Guarini, 
and  in  his  days  the  literary  eminence  of  the  court  of  Ferrara  reached  its 
climax.  Of  his  three  sisters,  Anna  (1531  — 1617)  married  the  Due  de 
Guise,  and  afterwards  the  Uuc  de  Nemours,  Lucrezia  (1534— 1598) 
married  the  Duke  of  Urbino ;  and  Leonora  (1537—81),  who  died 
unmarried,  was  the  idol  of  Tasso. 

Alfonso  II.  was  succeeded  by  Cesare  d'Este,  the  natural  son  of 
Alfonso  I. ,  but  only  as  Duke  of  Modena  and  Reggio,  for  Ferrara  and 
Comacchio  were  claimed  by  Pope  Clement  VIII.  as  vacant  fiefs,  and 
united  to  the  States  of  the  Church.  The  papal  rule,  however,  was 
excessively  unpopular  here,  and  was  only  maintained  by  a  strong 
Austrian  garrison  ;  this  was  withdrawn  in  1859,  and  in  March,  i860, 
they  were  united  to  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia. 

*'  Melancholy  as  the  city  looks  now,  every  lover  of  Italian  poetry 
must  view  with  affection  the  retreat  of  an  Ariosto,  a  Tasso,  a  Guarini. 
Such  is  the  ascent  ni  wealth  over  genius,  that  one  or  two  princes  could 
create  an  Athens  m  the  midst  of  this  Boeotia.  The  little  courts  of 
Ferrara  and  Urbino  seemed  to  emulate  those  of  Alexandria  and 
Pergamos,  contending  for  pre-eminence  only  in  literature  and  elegance." 
— Forsyth, 

"  Ferrara  !  in  thy  wide  and  grass-grown  streets. 
Whose  symmetry  was  not  for  solitude, 
There  seems  as  'twere  a  curse  upon  the  seats 
Of  fonner  sovereigns,  and  the  antique  brood 
Of  Este,  which  for  many  an  age  made  good 
Its  strength  within  thy  walls,  and  was  of  yore 
Patron  or  tyrant,  as  the  changing  mood 
Of  petty  power  impell'd,  of  those  who  wore 

The  wreath  which  Dante's  brow  alone  had  worn  befbre." 

Byron,  Childe  Harold. 

*  "  Her  husband  and  his  subjects  all  loved  her  for  her  gracious  manners  and  her  true 
piety,  to  which,  having  long  before  abandoned  all  worldly  vanities,  she  wholly  gave 
herself  up.  She  used  to  spend  the  morning  in  prayer,  and  in  the  evening  would 
invite  the  ladies  of  Ferrara  to  embroidery  parties,  in  which  accomplishment  she  was  a 
great  proficient.  Her  liberality  to  the  poor  and  to  literary  men  was  especially 
noticeable." — Frizzi,  Mem.  ^er  la  Storia  di  Ferrara,  iv.  281. 


l68  ITALIAN   CITIES. 

Ferrara,  La  Gran  Donna  del  Po,  as  Tassoni  calls  it,  is 
situated  low  in  the  plain,  about  3^  miles  S.  of  the  river. 
The  town  is  neglected  and  damp  and  decaying,  and 
grass  grows  long  in  the  side  streets,  and  the  palaces 
look  deserted.  Hurried  travellers  will  care  little  for  it,  but 
those  who  are  really  interested  in  the  study  of  history 
and  art,  will  find  inexhaustible  interest  in  its  desolate  courts 
and  bye-streets,  where  the  terra-cotta  ornament  is  often 
gloriously  rich  and  delicate,  and  in  which  the  artist  will  dis- 
cover many  charming  subjects  of  twisted  columns,  ancient 
wells,  and  sculptured  cornices,  with  fresh  vines  hanging  over 
them.  The  castle,  all  the  churches  except  the  front  of  the 
cathedral,  and  all  the  palaces  and  houses  except  the  Palazzo 
dei  Diamanti,  are  built  of  brick,  and  are  often  wonderfully 
beautiful  examples  of  the  power  of  decoration  which  lies  in 
that  material.  The  country  round  Ferrara  is  flat  and 
marshy,  and  the  climate  damp  and  unhealthy. 

The  sights  most  worth  seeing  by  the  passing  traveller, 
are  the  exterior  of  the  Castle  and  Cathedral,  the  Relics  of 
Ariosto  at  the  University,  and  the  Pinacoteca.  The  following 
walk  embraces  all  else  of  importance  in  the  place  : — 

The  Castle,  which  is  the  centre  of  everything  in  Ferrara, 
is  the  finest  complete  middle-age  fortress  in  Italy.  It 
is  built  entirely  of  brick,  and  surrounded  by  a  deep  moat, 
crossed  on  each  side  by  bridges  which  support  wings  of  the 
building.  The  four  towers  and  the  side  walls  have  a  wide 
projecting  basement,  separated  by  a  corded  band  from  the 
rest  of  the  edifice.  The  broad  projecting  parapets  above 
rest  upon  huge  machicolations,  trefoiled  at  the  top.  English 
travellers  will  wonder  where  they  have  been  so  familiar 
with   this    castle    before — at   the   bottom    of   all    willow- 


CASTLE    OF  FERRARA.  169 

patterned  washing-basins  !  It  stands,  moated  and  flanked 
with  towers,  in  the  heart  of  a  subjugated  town,  Hke  a  tyrant 
entrenched  amongst  slaves,  and  recalls  to  a  stranger  that 
gloomy  period  described  by  Dante  : — 

"  Che  le  terre  d'ltalia  tutte  piene 

Son  di  tiranni  :  ed  un  Marcel  diventa 
Ogni  viUan  che  parteggiando  viene."* 

The  buildings  enclose  a  great  courtyard  with  two  ancient 
walls.  Little  that  is  ancient  remains  in  the  interior  except 
two  ceilings  by  Dosso  Dossi.  The  rooms  are  the  same  in 
which  Renee  of  France,  daughter  of  Louis  XIL,  married 
to  the  Duke  Hercules  II.,  suftered  for  the  evangelical  faith, 
which  she  had  been  led  to  embrace  by  the  teaching  of 
Calvin.  For  a  long  time  she  was  consoled  for  her  hus- 
band's neglect  and  for  the  disrespect  of  the  Court  by  the 
companionship  of  her  governess,  Madame  de  Soubise,  and 
her  daughter,  Anne  de  Parthenai,  and  by  the  friendship  of 
Olympia  Morata.  It  was  her  separation  from  her  friends, 
and  their  banishment  in  obedience  to  a  mandate  from  the 
Pope,  which  drew  from  Clement  Marot,  then  residing  in 
the  castle,  the  lines  addressed  to  the  Queen  of  Navarre  : — 

"  Ha  !  Marguerite  !  ecoute  la  souffrance 
Du  noble  coeur  de  Renee  de  France 
Puis  comme  soeur  plus  fort  que  d'esperance 

Console  la ! 
Tu  sais  comment  hors  de  son  pays  alia, 
Et  que  parens  et  amis  laissa  la  ; 
Mais  tu  ne  sais  quel  traitement  elle  a 

En  terre  etrange. 
Elle  ne  voit  ceux  a  qui  se  veut  plaindre 
Son  oeil  rayant  si  loin  ne  peut  atteindre 
Et  puis  les  monts,  pour  ce  bien  lui  eteindre 

Sont  entre  deux," 

•  Purg.  viL  124 


I70  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Renee  was  afterwards  for  a  time  deprived  even  of  her 
children,  but  continued,  in  the  words  of  Brantome,  "  of  a 
lofty  and  noble  heart,"  and,  according  to  Maimbourg,  "  of 
inexhaustible  sweetness  and  goodness."  On  the  death  of 
her  husband  in  1559,  she  was  permitted  to  return  to  Franno, 
where  she  died  in  1575. 

It  was  in  one  of  the  dungeons  of  this  castle  Faventino 
Fanino  of  Facuza  was  imprisoned  for  two  years,  during 
which  time  he  was  frequently  visited  by  Olympia  Morata 
and  the  Princess  Lavinia  della  Rovere,  and  afterwards 
in  1550  (under  Julius  III.)  was  one  of  the  first  who  suffered 
death  for  the  evangelical  faith. 

Itwas  in  one  of  the  castle  dungeons  also,  that,  May  2 1, 1 425, 
Niccolb  III.,  Marchese  d'Este,  caused  his  wife  Parisina, 
and  her  lover,  who  was  his  own  natural  son  Hugo,  to  be 
beheaded— a  story  narrated  by  Gibbon,  which  Byron  has 
made  the  subject  of  one  of  his  poems. 

A.  few  steps  to  the  left  brings  us  to  the  Piazza  del  Duotno, 
surrounded  by  old  buildings.  Opposite,  is  the  gothic 
Palazzo  della  Ragione,  which  dates  from  1326 ;  on  the 
right  is  the  Municipio,  with  a  great  courtyard  containing  a 
beautiful  open  staircase  with  arches,  and  in  front  some 
columns  which  once  sustained  bronze  statues,  taken  away 
by  the  French,  and  never  restored.  On  the  left  is  the 
beautiful  grey  front  of  the  Duomo,  which  will  a  little  remind 
Englishmen  of  Peterborough. 

The  Cathedral,  externally,  is  chiefly  of  the  beginning  of 
the  twelfth  century.  Its  west  front  has  three  gables  adorned 
with  ranges  of  arches,  which  increase  in  depth  and  richness 
of  moulding  and  shadow  to  the  top,  where  there  are  very 
fine  open-arched  galleries.     The  projecting  central  porch  is 


CATHEDRAL    OF  FERRARA.  Vft 

gabled  on  the  front  and  sides,  is  supported  by  banded 
columns  resting  on  huge  lions  of  red  marble,  and  is  adorned 
with  rude  reliefs.  In  the  niche  above  the  entrance  is  a 
statue  of  the  Madonna  by  Niccolh  da  Pisa  ;  the  sculptured 
lunette  over  the  great  door  represents  S.  George,  who  is, 
jointly  with  S.  Maurelius,  patron  saint  of  the  city.  Red 
marble  lions,  without  columns,  stand  in  front  of  the  side 
doors.  Over  that  on  the  right  is  a  medallion  bust  in  high 
reUef,  popularly  called  "  Donna  Ferrara."  Near  it  is  a 
quaint  statue  of  Alberto  d'Este  in  the  pilgrim's  dress  in 
which  he  went  to  Rome  for  the  benefit  of  the  indulgences 
of  the  jubilee  year  of  1391,  attended  by  four  hundred  per- 
sons, all  in  penitential  habits  like  his  own.  On  the  south 
of  the  church  is  a  fragment  of  a  gothic  loggia,  which  has 
been  continued  with  heavy  columns  enclosing  an  arcade  for 
shops  all  along  the  wall,  and  as  (Deo  gratias  !)  it  has  never 
been  "  restored,"  the  effect  is  most  picttiresque,  with  the 
beautiful  Lombard  campanile  soaring  behind. 

The  Interior  has  been  modernised  in  the  last  century, 
and  consists  of  a  long  nave  with  several  small  bays,  a 
chancel,  and  tribune. 

At  the  end  of  the  right  aisle  is  a  bronze  S.  George  with  other 
figures  by  Bindelli  and  Marescotti.  The  choir  contains  a  modem 
monument  to  Pope  Urban  III.,  who  died  of  grief  for  the  failure  of 
the  second  crusade.  The  tribune  is  adorned  with  the  Last  Judgment 
of  Bastianino.  The  choir-books,  presented  by  Bishop  Bartolommeo 
della  Rovere,  have  exquisite  illuminations  by  Cosimo  Tura.  Returning 
by  the  left  aisle  we  find — 

1st  Chapel,  F.  Francia.  The  Coronation  of  the  Virgin,  with  saints 
below. — S.  Catherine  with  her  wheel  in  the  foreground. 

3rd  Chapel,  Garofalo.     Virgin  and  Child  throned,  with  saints. 

Behind  the  tribune  of  the  Cathedral,  under  its  beautiful 
terra-cotta  cornices,  are  some  old  pillars,  lions,  and  a  well. 


17«  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Turning  to  the  left  from  the  west  door  of  the  Cathedral, 
the  Corso  Porta  Reno  leads  us,  under  an  arch,  to  the 
terribly  damp  Church  of  S.  Paolo,  where  the  painters 
Giobattista  Dossi  and  Bastaruolo  are  buried.  Here  also 
at  the  end  of  the  nave  (right)  is  a  fine  bust  by  Alessandro 
Vicentini  to  Antonio  Montecatino.  The  Assumption  of 
Elijah  and  the  scenes  from  the  Life  of  S.  Paul  in  the  choir 
are  by  Scarsdlino  and  Bonone. 

Returning  almost  to  the  castle,  and  turning  (left)  under 
the  arches  adjoining  it,  we  reach  the  great  Church  of  S. 
Domenico.  Its  pictures  are  removed,  and  the  neighbouring 
convent  is  almost  entirely  stripped  of  the  library  bequeathed 
to  it  by  the  astronomist  Celio  Calcagnini,  the  friend  and 
correspondent  of  Olympia  Morata,  who  was  celebrated  by 
Ariosto : — 

"II  dotto  Celio  Calcagnin  lontana 
Fara  la  gloria,  e  '1  bel  nome  di  quella 
Nel  regno  di  Monese,  in  quel  di  Juba, 
In  India  e  Spagna  udir  con  chiara  tuba." 

Or.  Fur.  xlii.  90. 

His  bust  was  placed  over  the  library  door,  and  his  tomb 
with  the  touching  inscription : — "  Ex  diutumo  studio  in 
primis  hoc  didicit :  mortalia  omnia  contempere  et  igno- 
rantiam  suam  non  ignorare." 

Hence  if  we  descend  (left)  the  lime-avenues  of  the  Corso 
dei  Giardini,  which  leads  from  the  castle  to  the  walls,  and 
turn  to  the  right,  we  shall  come  to  (marked  by  its  tall, 
terribly-leaning  campanile)  the  Church  of  S.  Benedetto, 
where  Ariosto  was  buried,  but  whence  his  tomb  and  ashes 
were  removed  by  the  French  to  the  University.  The  best 
pictures  in  the  church  have  been  taken  away,  but  on  the 
vestibule  of  the  refectory  is  the  Paradise  of  Dosso  Dossi,  in 


HOUSE    OF  ARIOSTO.     CAMPO   SANTO.  173 

which  Ariosto  is  represented  at  his  own  request,  "  not  being 
certain  of  entering  the  real  one." 

The  first  street  on  the  left  is  the  Via  del  Ariostei.  Here 
(left)  is  the  old  brick  house  of  Ariosto,  on  which  he  inscribed 
between  the  stories  : — 

"  Parva  sed  apta  mihi,  sed  nulli  obnoxia,  sed  non 
Sordida,  parta  meo  sed  tamen  aere  domus." 

A  tablet  above  was  added  by  his  son  Virginio: — 'Sic 
domus  hsec  Ariosto  propitios  habeat  deos,  olim  ut  Pindarica." 
The  chamber  of  the  poet  on  the  upper  floor,  "J>erche  alia 
venerazione  della gente  durasse"  has  been  carefully  restored. 
The  furniture,  however,  is  only  copied  from  his,  and  the 
only  thing  here  which  belonged  to  him  is  "his  other 
inkstand" — the  celebrated  one  being  at  the  University. 

Hence  (right)  a  desolate,  grass-grown  street  (Via 
Arianuova)  leads  to  the  Campo  Santo  which  has  been 
formed  in  the  cloisters  of  the  suppressed  Certosa.  Several 
tombs  from  ruined  churches  have  been  removed  here,  and 
there  is  a  fine  bust  of  Cicognara  by  Canova,  but  there  is 
not  much  to  see.     Some  of  the  epitaphs  are  interesting — 

"  I  found  such  a  pretty  epitaph  in  the  Certosa  cemetery  at  Ferrara — 
or  rather  two  ;  one  was 

*  Martini  Luigi 
Implora  pace  j ' 

the  other, 

'  Lucrezia  Picini 
Implora  etema  quiete.' 

That  was  all ;  but  it  appears  to  me  that  these  two  and  three  words 
comprise  and  compress  all  that  can  be  said  on  the  subject,— and  then, 
in  Italian,  they  are  absolute  music.  They  contain  doubt,  hope,  and 
humility  ;  nothing  can  be  more  pathetic  than  the  '  implora '  and  the 
modesty  of  the  request  ;    they  have  had  enough   of  life ;  they  want 


174  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

rest ;  they  implore  it,  and  '  etema  quiete. '     It  is  like  a  great  inscrip- 
tion in  some  good  old  heathen  '  City  of  the  Dead.'  " 

Byron,  Letter  to  Mr.  Hoppner,  June  6,  1819. 

The  neighbouring  Church  has  lost  its  fine  pictures.  On 
the  green  laAvn  in  front  is  a  large  solitary  tomb  to  "  Alfred 
Lowell  Putnam." 

The  Via  Borsa  leads  (left)  to  the  Piazza  Ariostea,  a  grassy 
square  adorned  with  a  statue  of  "  II  nostro  Poeta,"  as  the 
people  of  Ferrara  call  him.  At  the  comer  of  the  square  are 
the  Palazzo  Beznlacqua  and  the  Palazzo  Zatti.  Descending 
the  Corso  Porta  Mare,  on  the  left  is  the  exceedingly 
beautiful  Palazzo  d^  Diamanti,  so  called  from  the  manner 
in  which  the  stones  are  cut.  It  was  originally  built  by 
Sigismondo  d'Este  in  1492,  but  altered  by  Cardinal  Luigi 
d'Este  in  1567.  The  friezes  at  the  angles  and  near  the 
entrance  are  of  wonderful  richness.  This  palace  is  now 
called  the  Ateneo  Civico,  and  contains,  in  its  upper  story, 
the  Pinacoteca,  open  (free)  from  9  a.m.  to  3  p.m.  It  contains 
a  very  interesting  collection,  almost  exclusively  illustrative 
of  the  peculiar  school  of  Ferrara,  of  which  Garofalo  was 
the  most  eminent  example. 

There  are  few  specimens  in  the  town  of  Ferrarese  painters 
before  the  time  of  Cosimo  Tura,  who  was  a  pupil  of  Galeasso 
Galassi  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Of  the  same  period  was 
Lorenzo  Costa.  His  pupils  embraced  Ercole  Grande, 
Mazzolino,  and  Domenico  Lanetti,  who  was  the  master 
(though  he  afterwards  studied  from  Raffaelle  and  Michael 
Angelo)  of  Benvenuto  Tisio,  called  Garofalo  from  the  pink 
which  he  introduced  into  his  pictures.  Contemporary  with 
this  great  master  were  Dosso  and  Giobattista  Dossi,  and 
Ortolano.     Following   Garofalo   were   Girolamo  da  Carpi, 


PINACOTECA.  175 

Scarsellino,  Giuseppe  Mazzuoli  or  Bastaruolo,  and  Bastiano 
Filippi,  generally  called  Bastianino.  Giulio  Cromer,  Carlo 
Bononi  a  pupil  of  Bastaruolo,  and  Alfonso  Rivarola  or 
Chenda,  were  the  last  artists  of  any  eminence  in  Ferrara. 

The  pictures  in  the  gallery  (very  few  seats)  are  not 
now  (1874)  arranged  according  to  their  numbers,  but  it  will 
not  be  difficult  to  refer  to  them.  They  are  all  shining  under 
a  wholesale  "restoration."     The  best  specimens  are  : — 

2.  Bastaruolo.    The  Crucifixion,  with  the  Virgin  and  S.  John.    From 

II  Gesu. 
4.  Carlo  Bononi.     The  Marriage  of  Cana  ;  a  huge  picture.     From 
the  Certosa. 
Id.  S.  Antony  of  Padua  raising  a  dead  man.     From  S. 

Francesco. 

10.  Bastianino.     The  Virgin,  with  S.  Matthew  and  S.  Lucia.    From 

the  convent  of  S.  Lucia. 

11.  Id.  The  Annunciation.     From  S.  Agostino. 

12.  Id.  The  Nativity.     From  S.  Antonio. 
19.  Boccaccino  de  Cremona.     The  Death  of  the  Virgin. 

23.  Lorenzo  Costa.     The  Madonna  throned,  with  S.  Petronius  and 

S.  Jerome. 

24.  Id.  Picture  in  five  compartments  :  The  Virgin  ;  S. 

Jerome  ;  The  Magdalen  ;  The  Annunciation  ; 
S.  Antony  and  S.  Paul  the  Hermit. 

25.  Michele  Cortellini.     The  Madonna  throned,  with  saints.     From 

S.  Andrea. 

27.  Id.  The   Virgin   throned,   with    S.    Agata,   S. 

Apollonie  and  S.  Lucia.     From  S  Maria 
in  Vado. 

28.  Girolamo  Carpi.     A  Miracle  of  S.  Antonio. 

Id.  S.  Catherine  :  a  fresco.     From  the  Hospital 

of  S.  Anna. 
22.   Calzolaretto  (Gabriele  Cappellini)  S.S.  Francis  of  Assisi,  Antony  of 
Padua,  James  the   Great,  Peter  the  Apostle,  and 
Louis.     From  S.  Francesco. 
*3i.  n  Cremonese    Giuseppe   Caletti,    (1600 — 1660^.     S.    Mark  the 
Evangelist.     From  S.  Benedetto. 

'*  This  artist  is  distinguished  by  fleshes  of  a  sun-burnt  hue,  by  certain 


176  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

bold  lights,  strengthened  by  contrast  with  somewhat  loaded  shadows. 
But  his  S.  Mark  is  a  grand  and  correct  figure,  full  of  expression,  and 
very  picturesquely  surrounded  by  abundance  of  volumes,  in  whose 
drawing  he  is  so  true  and  natural,  as  to  have  been  called  the  painter  of 
books.  Having  completed  this  work,  II  Cremonese  disappeared  out 
of  the  city,  and  was  no  more  heard  of" — Lanzi. 

33.    Vittore  Carpaccio.     The  death  of  the  Madonna,  with  the  Apostles 

around  and  the  Almighty  above. 
37.  Dosso  Dossi.     An   altar-piece   in   six  compartments,   the  Virgin 
and    Saints  ;    a  very  magnificent  work.     From 
S.  Andrea. 
*38.         Id.  S.    John   the    Evangelist  in   Patmos.     From    S. 

Maria  in  Vado. 

"The.  head  is  a  master-piece  of  expression,  and  acknowledged  by 
Cochin  himself  to  be  highly  Raffaellesque." — Lanzi. 

*39.  Dosso  Dossi.  The  Annunciation.     From  S.  Spirito. 
40.  Id.  Portrait  of  Monsignor  Gillino  Malatesta.     From  S. 

Andrea. 

42.  Ercole  Grandi.     Nativity. 

43.  Id.  The  Dead  Christ,  with  the  Virgin,  the  Mag- 

dalen, and  S.  John.     From  the  Church  of 

Baura. 
43  B.        Id.  S.  Sebastian,  with  S.  Joseph  and  S.  Giobbe, 

and  with  portraits  of  the  donors.     From  S. 
Paolo. 

44.  Stefano  Falzagalloni.     The  Madonna  and  Child  throned,  with  S. 

Roch  and  S.  Antonio  Abbate.  From  S, 
Maria  in  Vado. 

45.  Id.  Christ    and    the   twelve    Apostles.     Half 

lengths. 

49.  Galeasso  Galassi.    The   Crucified    One    sustained   by  God   the 

Father. 

50.  Garofalo  {Benvenuto  Tisio).  The  Old  and  New  Testaments.   An 

immense  fresco.  From  the  Re- 
fectory of  S.  Andrea. 

51.  Id.  The   Holy  Family,  with  S    Bartho- 

lomew and  the  Coming  of  the 
Magi.  From  S.  Bartolommeo 
Suburbano. 


i 


PINACOTECA.  177 

52.  Garofalo  {Benvenuto  Tisio).  The  Death  of  S.  Peter  Martyr.  From 

S.  Domenico. 
•53.  Id.  The  Holy  Family,  called  "  II  Riposo. " 

From  S.  Francesco. 
*S4.  Id.  The  Madonna,  called  "  Del  Pilastro," 

with  SS.  Jerome  and  John  Baptist. 

From  S.  Francesco. 

55.  Id.  The  Adoration  of  the  Magi.     From 

S.  Giorgio  Suburbano. 

56.  Id,  Jesus  praying  in  the  Garden  of  Geth- 

semane.     From  S.  Silvestro. 

57.  Id.  The   Flight  into   Egypt.      From  S. 

Francesco. 
•58.  Id,  The  Massacre  of  the  Innocents.  From 

S.  Francesco.  A  wonderful  pic- 
ture. The  agonised  entreaty  of 
the  mother  in  the  foreground  is 
most  touching,  and  the  inwardly 
relenting  soldier,  who  says,  "  I 
must  obey  orders." 

"  The  figures  of  the  soldiers  and  others  in  this  picture  are  so  full  of 
life,  that  it  is  a  perfect  marvel.  The  various  expressions  of  the  many 
faces,  also,  are  admirably  rendered  ;  grief  and  fear  in  the  countenances 
of  the  mothers  and  nurses,  pain  and  death  in  those  of  the  infants,  and 
cruelty  in  the  faces  of  the  murderers."' —  Vasari. 

58.  Garofalo  {Benvenuto   Tisio).    The  Return  of  the   Holy  Family 

from  Egypt.     From  S.  Francesco. 

64.    Guercino.  The  Martyrdom  of  S.  Maurelio,  painted  for  the  Abbot 

of  S.    Giorgio.     S.   Maurelio  was  the   first  bishop 

and   patron    of  the   town,    and   appears  upon  the 

ancient  coinage. 

*79.   Ortolano  {G.  B.  Benvoiuti).  The  Nativity.     From  S.  Francesco. 

81.  Palma  Vecchio.     The  Tribute  Money.     From  S.  Maria  in  Vado. 

82.  Donuniro  Panetti.  The  Salutation.     From  S.  Maria  in  Vado. 
The  Annunciation.     From  S.  Maria  in  Vado. 
S.  Andrew.     From  S.  Andrea. 
The  Annunciation.     From  S.  Andrea. 
S.  Augustine.     From  S.  Andrea. 
S.  Paul.     A  fresco.     From  S.  Niccol6. 

The  Ascension.     From  S.  Francesco. 
12 


83. 

Id. 

84. 

Id. 

85,  86. 

Id. 

8& 

Id. 

90. 

Id. 

92.   Niccolo  Roselli. 

VOL.    II. 

178  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

95.  Sigismondo  Scarselli.     The  Burial  of  Christ.  From  S.  Barto- 

lommeo  Suburbano. 

96.  Ippolito  Scarsdlino.     The  Marriage  of  Cana. 

97.  Id.  SS.    Lorenzo  and    Francesco,    with  the 

donor. 

98.  Id.  The  Conception,  with  the  Mysteries  of  the 

Rosary  around  it.     From  S.  Andrea. 

99.  Id,  The  Annunciation.     From  S.  Andrea. 
104.  Dom.  Tintoretto.    The  Madonna  del  Rosario,  with  SS.  George 

and   Maurelio,    and   others  in  adoration. 
From  the  Chiesa  Nuova. 
K)5.   Cosimo  Tura.     S.  Jerome.     .  On  wood. 
106.  Id.  S.  Jerome.     From  S.  Girolamo. 

*I07.  Timoteo  delta  Vite.  The  Assumption  of  S.  Mary  of  Egypt  A 
lovely  white  rabbit  and  a  dove  are  in 
the  foreground.     From  S.  Andrea. 

Hence,  descending  the  Via  dei  Pioppini,  in  which  there 
is  a  second  House  of  Ariosto  (where  he  lived  when  young, 
and  in  which  he  acted  the  fable  of  Thisbe  with  his  brothers 
and  sisters),  we  pass  on  the  left  the  Church  of  II  Gesu, 
which  contains,  in  the  choir,  the  monument  of  Barbara  of 
Austria,  wife  of  Alfonso  II. 

Turning  left  down  the  Strada  della  Giovecca,  on  the  left 
is  the  Hospital  of  S.  An7ia,  containing  the  wretched  cellar 
shown  as  the  earlier  Prison  of  Tasso,  in  which  he  was 
confined  from  March,  1579,  to  December,  1580. 

Tasso,  who  had  long  resided  at  Ferrara  in  the  utmost 
favour  with  the  Duke  Alfonso  and  his  illustrious  sisters,  to 
whom  he  addressed  many  of  his  poems,  eventually  offended 
the  duke  by  a  freedom  of  speech,  which  was  mistaken  for, 
or  represented  as  insanity.  In  a  letter  written  at  this  time, 
the  poet  calls  "  the  bowels  of  Jesus  Christ  to  witness  that 
he  was  less  mad  than  the  duke  was  mistaken."  Fearing 
detention,  however,  he  escaped  through  the  Abruzzi  to  his 


PRISON   OF    TASSO.  179 

sister  Cornelia  at  Sorrento.  He  was  warned  by  the  duke 
that  if  he  returned  he  would  be  placed  under  surveillance, 
nevertheless,  he  did  return  twice,  the  second  time  during  the 
festivities  on  Alfonso's  marriage  with  the  sister  of  the  Uuke 
of  Mantua.  It  was  a  violent  outbreak  of  passion,  if  not 
insanity,  on  this  occasion,  and  not  his  love  for  the  beautiful 
Leonora,  which  led  to  his  imprisonment  in  S.  Anna,  which 
was  at  once  hospital,  madhouse,  and  prison.  Hence,  at 
first,  he  wrote  to  the  Duke  of  Mantua — 

"Chiaro  Vincenzo,  io  pur  languisco  a  morte 
In  career  tetro  e  sotto  aspro  govemo." 

But  his  imprisonment  was  afterwards  modified,  and  he 
wrote  to  the  Marchese  Buoncompagni  that  the  duke  did 
not  keep  him  in  prison,  but  in  a  hospital,  where  monks  and 
priests  could  visit  him  and  show  him  all  possible  kindness. 
Nevertheless,  he  vainly  solicited  the  duke  and  the  princesses 
for  his  release.  The  Emperor  Rudolph  and  the  Prince  of 
Mantua  (the  brother  of  the  new  duchess)  also  interceded 
for  him  in  vain.  The  duke's  reply  was  that  his  only  object 
was  to  '*  benefit  and  cure  "  him,  and  that  when  convalescent 
he  should  be  set  at  liberty. 

While  he  was  imprisoned,  his  once-beloved  Princess  Leo- 
nora died,  Feb.  11,  1 581.  There  is  a  letter  of  Tasso  extant  of 
this  time,  imploring  a  celebrated  preacher  at  Ferrara  to  kiss 
in  his  name  the  hand  of  the  dying  Leonora,  and  say  that 
he  was  praying  for  her  recovery.  A  few  months  before  her 
death  he  was  removed  to  a  more  comfortable  apartment, 
where  he  could,  according  to  his  own  expression,  "  philoso- 
phise and  walk  about."  But  he  was  still  persecuted  in  a 
hundred  petty  ways,  and  was  forced  to  beg,  during  the 
vintage,  in  verse,  for  a  small  supply  of  wine. 


i8o  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

After  the  publication  of  the  Gerusalemme,  public  opinion 
mitigated  the  captivity  of  the  poet,  and  many  eminent 
persons  were  permitted  to  visit  him ;  and,  in  1563,  the  soli- 
citations of  the  Duchess  of  Mantua  so  far  induced  the  duke 
to  relax  his  confinement,  that  he  was  sometimes  permitted 
to  go  out  under  surveillance.  On  July  5,  1586,  Tasso  was 
finally  released,  after  a  captivity  of  seven  years  and  two 
months,  and  was  permitted  to  go  away  with  the  Prince  of 
Mantua,  his  liberator.  At  Mantua  he  had  a  comfortable 
apartment,  and  was  soothed  by  every  kindness,  but  was 
driven  away  by  the  effect  of  the  damp  climate  upon  his 
health.     He  died  at  Rome,  April  25,  1595. 

Speaking  of  the  Dukes  of  Ferrara,  Byron  says  : — 

"  And  Tasso  is  their  glory  and  their  shame. 
Hark  to  his  strain  !  and  then  survey  his  cell ! 
And  see  how  dearly  earn'd  Torquato's  fame, 
And  where  Alfonso  bade  his  poet  dwell ; 
The  miserable  despot  could  not  quell 
The  insulted  mind  he  sought  to  quench,  and  blend 
With  the  surrounding  maniacs,  in  the  hell 
Where  he  had  plung'd  it.      Glory  without  end 
Scatter'd  the  clouds  away  ;  and  on  that  name  attend 

"  The  tears  and  praises  of  all  time  ;  while  thine 
Would  rot  in  its  oblivion — in  the  state 
Of  worthless  dust,  which  from  thy  boasted  line 
Is  shaken  into  nothing  ;  but  the  link 
Thou  formest  in  his  fortunes  bids  us  think 
Of  thy  poor  malice,  naming  thee  with  scorn — 
Alfonso  !  how  thy  ducal  pageants  shrink 
From  thee  !  if  in  another  station  born, 
Scarce  fit  to  be  the  slave  of  him  thou  mad'st  to  mourn. 

"  Peace  to  Torquato's  injured  shade  !  'twas  his 
In  life  and  death  to  be  the  mark  where  Wrong 
Aim'd  with  her  poison'd  arrows  ;  but  to  miss. 
Oh,  victor  unsurpass'd  in  modern  song  ! 


PALAZZO    ROVERELLA.     S.  FRANCESCO.  i8l 

Each  year  brings  forth  its  millions ;  but  how  long 
The  tide  of  generations  shall  roll  on, 
And  not  the  whole  combin'd  and  countless  throng 
Compose  a  mind  like  thine  ?  though  all  in  one 
Condens'd  their  scatter'd  rays,  they  would  not  form  a  sun. " 

Childe  Harold. 

The  "  Prison "  had  originally  a  second  window  ;  it  is 
entirely  scratched  over  with  the  names  of  devotees,  chiefly 
English,  who  have  also  carried  away  the  bedstead  and  the 
original  door  in  fragments.  There  are  inscriptions  on  the 
walls  by  Byron,  Casimir  Delavigne,  and  by  Lamartine  the 
verses  : — 

"  La  le  Tasse,  brule  d'une  flamme  fatale, 
Expiaat  dans  les  fers  sa  gloire  et  son  amour, 
Quand  il  va  recueillir  la  palme  triomphale. 
Descend  au  noir  sejour." 

Close  to  the  Prison  is  the  beautiful  Palazzo  Roverdla, 
with  a  six-sided  bay  window.  This  is  one  of  the  best  speci- 
mens in  Italy  of  a  palace  with  terra  cotta  ornamentation. 
The  friezes  are  excessively  rich,  and  are  divided  by  pillars, 
which  widen  at  the  basement.  Opposite,  is  the  Church  of 
S.  Gadano,  which  contains  : — 

Left  Transept.     Guercino.     The  Presentation  in  the  Temple. 
2nd  Chapel,  Left.      Chenda.     S.  Gaetano. 

The  third  street,  on  the  right  beyond  this,  leads  to  the 
large  Church  of  S.  Francesco,  the  roof  of  which  is  curiously 
divided  into  a  series  of  small  cupolas,  which,  from  a  par- 
ticular point  in  the  centre  of  the  nave,  produce  the  most 
extraordinary  and  oft-repeated  echo  imaginable.  The  pic- 
tures now  here  are  for  the  most  part  copies.  The  first 
chapel  on  the  left,  which  has  a  relief  of  the  Agony  in  the 
Garden,  has  frescoes  of  the  Donor  and  of  the  Betrayal  by 


i82  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Garofalo.  In  the  right  transept  is  the  tomb,  adorned  with 
bas-reliefs  of  his  conquests  and  battle-feats,  of  the  Mar- 
chese  di  Villa,  who  defended  Candia  against  the  Turks. 

Hence  the  Via  Terra  Nuova  leads  to  the  University 
(Studio  Pubblico).  In  the  courtyard  are  some  fine  sarco- 
phagi, Pagan  and  Christian.  The  Library  contains  some 
splendid  illuminated  church-books.  Here  are  preserved 
the  relics  of  Tasso.  At  the  end  of  a  long  room  is  his  tomb, 
brought  hither  by  the  French  in  1801.  Lord  Byron  says 
that  the  bust  formerly  wore  a  wreath,  and 

"  The  lightning  rent  from  Ariosto's  bust 

-  The  iron  crown  of  laurel's  mimic'd  leaves  ; 
Nor  was  the  ominous  element  unjust, 
For  the  true  laurel-wreath  which  Glory  weaves 
Is  of  the  tree  no  bolt  of  thunder  cleaves, 
And  the  false  semblance  but  disgraced  his  brow  ; 
Yet  still,  if  fondly  Superstition  grieves, 
Know,  that  the  lightning  sanctifies  below 

Whate'er  it  strikes  ; — yon  head  is  doubly  sacred  now. " 

but  the  librarians  say  there  never  was  a  wreath,  and  that  the 
lightning  was  a  poet's  imagination.  In  the  next  room  are 
Ariosto's  chair,  his  inkstand  with  the  figure  of  Silence, 
made  for  him  by  Duke  Alfonso,  the  first  edition  of  his 
poems,  with  his  own  marginal  notes,  and  many  letters  of 
his  and  of  Tasso.  Here  is  also  the  MS.  of  the  Pastor  Fido 
of  Guarini,  an  illustrious  native  of  Ferrara,  whose  house 
the  municipality  are  wishing  to  decorate  with  an  inscription, 
but  still  vainly  endeavouring  to  identify. 

Returning  to  S.  Francesco  and  the  Via  Savonarola,  the 
Via  Praisolo  on  right,  and  the  Via  Campofranco  on  left, 
lead  to  the  small  Church  of  Corpus  Donwii,  which  contains 
some    tombs    of   the    House    of    Este.     Hence   the   Via 


S.  MARIA    IN   VADO.     S.  GIORGIO.  183 

Pergoleto  and  the  Via  Borgo  di  Sotto  lead  to  the  great 
Church  of  S.  Maria  in  Vado,  famous  for  a  miracle  of  the 
bleeding  Host,  like  that  of  Bolsena,  which  is  said  to  have 
occurred  on  Easter  Sunday,  1171,  to  establish  the  faith  of  a 
doubting  prior.  The  pictures  in  this  church,  and  even 
the  bones  of  the  painters  who  were  buried  here,  have  been 
removed. 

On  the  right  of  the  church  is  the  fine  old  gothic  Palazzo 
Schiffanoia,  built  by  Duke  Borso,  and  decorated  with 
frescoes  by  Cositno  Tura,  representing  the  Months,  with 
the  different  amusements  they  afforded  to  the  Court.  Some 
of  the  figures  are  very  curious  and  beautiful.  The  frescoes 
were  only  discovered  in  1840,  since  which  the  palace  has 
been  purchased  by  the  municipality  and  turned  into  a 
Museum  of  Natural  History. 

To  the  right  is  the  ruined  Church  of  S.  Andrea,  now 
turned  into  a  granary,  and  behind  it,  on  a  bastion  of  the 
wall,  the  public  walk  of  the  Montagnone.  Hence,  turning 
left,  we  may  regain  the  Strada  della  Giovecca. 

In  the  Church  of  S.  Giorgio,  outside  the  walls,  is  the  tomb, 
by  Ambrogio  da  Miiano,  of  Lorenzo  Roverella,  physician 
to  Pope  Julius  II.,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Ferrara. 

"Its  style  is  pure  Quattrocento,  and  its  general  arrangement  that 
adopted  by  the  Tuscan  masters.  The  recumbent  effigy  lies  upon  a 
sarcophagus  within  an  arched  recess  adorned  with  cherub  heads.  Out- 
side the  arch  are  two  '  putti ' ;  upon  the  top  is  a  group  of  S.  George 
and  the  Dragon  ;  and  within  the  lunette  a  roundel  containing  a  group 
of  the  Madonna  and  Child,  with  adoring  angels.  On  either  side  of  the 
recess  are  five  excellent  statuettes  of  saints.  The  technical  handling  is 
excellent  throughout,  and  with  the  exception  of  the  masterpieces  of  the 
Florentine  sculpture  at  Florence  and  Lucca,  we  do  not  know  of  any 
monument  so  beautiful  in  design  or  so  free  from  mannerism  as  this." — 
Perkins'  Italian  Sculp tois. 


1 84  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

An  excursion  should  be  made  from  Ferrara  to  the 
interesting  town  of  Cento  (which  may  be  visited  on  the  way 
to  Bologna,  being  five  miles  from  the  station  of  S.  Giorgio), 
the  native  place  of  one  of  the  greatest  painters  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  Giovanni  Francesco  Barbieri,  generally 
known  as  Guercino,  1590 — 1666.  The  town  is  situated 
near  the  Reno,  which  abounds  in  fish,  and  it  is  said  to  take 
its  name  from  the  hundred  huts  (cento  capannucce)  which 
formed  an  ancient  settlement  of  fishermen.  Guercino  was 
quite  devoted  to  his  native  place,  where  he  founded  his 
"  Scuola,"  and  which  he  refused  to  abandon  for  the  titles  of 
Court  Painter  offered  him  by  the  kings  of  France  and 
England.  The  Casa  di  Guercino  still  exists,  where  he 
received  ad  uno  squisito  banchetio  two  cardinals  who  had 
come  to  the  Fair  of  Cento,  and  where  his  pupils  waited 
upon  them  and  performed  una  bella  commedia  in  the  evening. 
Here  also  he  was  visited  by  Queen  Christina  of  Sweden. 
Its  walls  are  adorned  with  several  of  his  frescoes,  and  in  its 
little  chapel  is  a  beautiful  picture  by  him  of  the  Madonna 
receiving  two  pilgrims. 

"L'eglise  du  Rosaire  est  appelee  a  Cento  la  Galerie,  titre  profane 
qu'elle  justifie  assez  par  son  apparence  et  la  maniere  dont  les  tableaux 
y  sent  ranges.  Le  Guerchin  n'y  eclata  pas  moins  que  chez  lui.  Cette 
eglise  est  remplie  de  ses  peintures  :  il  a  donne,  dit  on,  la  dessin  de  la 
fa9ade,  du  clocher,  et  travaille  a  la  statue  de  bois  de  la  Vierge ;  il  s'y 
montre  ainsi  peintre,  sculpteur  et  architecte  ;  mais  surtout  il  y  est 
Chretien.  Una  chapelle  fondee  par  lui  porte  son  nom  :  il  avait  fait  un 
legs  pour  qu'on  y  celebrat  un  service,  et  laisse  a  I'image  de  la  Vierge 
du  Rosaire  une  chaine  d'or  d'un  grand  prix,  offrande  pieuse  qui  fut 
volee  vers  le  milieu  du  dernier  si^cle  par  un  custode  de  l'eglise." 
—  Valery. 

At  Pieve,  near  Cento,  is  a  fine  Assumption  of  Guide. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
PIACENZA. 

IT  is  four  hours  by  quick  train  (20  frs.,  75  c  :  14  frs., 
55  c.)  from  Turin  to  Piacenza. 

Trains  are  generally  changed  at  Alessandria  (^Albergo 
dell'  Universo),  built  in  11 64  by  the  Lombard  League 
against  Frederick  Barbarossa,  and  called  after  its  chief, 
Pope  Alexander  III.  It  was  colonised  with  the  inhabitants 
of  the  surrounding  villages,  and  so  well  fortified,  that  though 
Barbarossa  contemptuously  called  it  "Alessandria  della 
Paglia,"  in  allusion  to  the  straw  which  the  builders  mixed 
with  their  materials,  it  successfully  withstood  a  siege  from 
his  army  in  11 74.  Alessandria  has  a  Cathedral,  but  is  not 
worth  halting  at. 

From  Alessandria  to  Piacenza  the  railway  passes  across 
flat  plains,  only  enlivened  by  the  distant  views  of  the 
mountains,  and  the  picturesque  and  varied  campaniles  of 
the  villages.  Soon  after  leaving  Piacenza  we  cross  the 
battle-field  of  Marengo,  where  Napoleon  gained  his  great 
victory  over  the  Austrians,  on  June  13,  1800. 

Among  the  stations  are  : — 

Tortona,  where  the  Duomo  contains  a  curious  sarcophagus, 
with  Greek  and  Latin  inscriptions,  to  P.  CElius  Sabinus,  the 
sculptured  emblems  being  partly  Pagan  and  partly  Christian. 

Voghera,  where,  in  the  Church  of  S.  Lorenzo,  are  tvo 


i86  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

ancient  reliquaries,  and  the  uncorrupt  body  of  the  blessed 
Taddeo  of  Vesme,  from  which  it  is  said  that  blood  flowed 
on  its  discovery,  in  1646,  200  years  after  his  death.  Here 
also  is  the  tomb  of  Archbishop  Pietro  di  Georgi,  who 
presented  to  the  church  a  thorn  of  the  True  Cross  preserved 
in  one  of  the  reliquaries. 

Casteggio,  marking  the  ancient  Clastidium,  where  Marcus 
Marcellus  defeated  and  slew  Virdomarus,  the  King  of  the 
Gsesatae.  The  place  was  given  up  to  Hannibal  by  its 
governor,  who  was  bribed  with  200  pieces  of  gold.  A 
spring  near  the  town  still  bears  the  name  of  "  La  Fontana 
d'Annibale."  Close  to  this  town  Napoleon  gained  the 
victory  called  Montebello  (from  a  neighbouring  village), 
June  9,  1800.  Here  also  the  Austrians  were  defeated  by 
the  French  and  Italian  forces  in  May,  1859. 

Broni,  where  a  silver  shrine  in  the  principal  church  con- 
tains the  relics  of  San  Contardo,  son  of  Azzo,  Marquis  oi 
Este,  its  founder. 

Near  San  Niccoto  we  cross  the  Trebbia,  remarkable  for  the 
victory  of  Hannibal  in  B.C.  218  ;  for  that  of  the  Piedmontese 
over  the  allied  armies  of  France  and  Spain  in  1746;  and 
for  that  of  the  Russians  under  Suwarrow  over  the  French 
under  Macdonald,  June  20,  1799.  The  Trebbia,  a  little 
above  Piacenza,  falls  into  the  Po,  which  is  here  often  most 
violent  in  its  aggressive  floods. 

*'  Sic  piano  Padus  ore  tumens  super  aggere  tutas 
Excursit  ripas,  et  lotos  concutit  agros. 
Succubuit  si  qua  tellus,  cumulumque  furentem 
Undarum  non  passa,  ruit ;  turn  flumine  toto 
Transit,  et  ignotos  aperit  sibi  gurgite  campos. 
lUos  terra  fugit  dominos  ;  his  rura  colonis 
Accedunt,  donante  Pado." — Lucan,  vi,  272. 


HISTORY    OF  PIACENZA.  187 

Piacenza  was  called  by  the  Romans  Placentia  from  its 
situation,  yet  visitors  may  wonder  what  is  the  beauty  of 
being  situated  in  a  sandy,  wind- stricken,  dust-laden  plain, 
which  in  winter  is  liable  to  floods  from  the  Trebbia,  and 
which,  in  summer,  is  a  dry  bed  of  gravel,  affording  no 
moisture  to  the  miserable  burnt  turf  of  the  adjoining  country. 

Yet  the  artist  will  find  Piacenza  delightful,  and  Avill  be 
filled  with  admiration  of  the  lovely  effects  of  colour  formed 
by  its  great  houses,  palaces,  and  churches  standing  out 
against  the  clear  sky  and  ever-delicate  distances ;  and  the 
architect  will  be  enchanted  with  the  grandly-colossal  forms 
of  its  buildings,  enriched  here  and  there  by  the  most  deli- 
cate tracery  of  terra-cotta,  and  shaded  by  vast  projecting 
roofs  supported  on  such  huge  stone  corbels  as  a  northern 
architect  has  never  dreamt  of  On  the  whole,  this  is  one  of 
the  most  picturesque  and  full  of  colour  of  all  the  Lombard 
towns. 

Piacenza  was  founded  as  a  Roman  colony  B.C.  219,  at  the  same  time 
with  Cremona,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Po,  at  the  point  where  it  was 
crossed  by  the  Via  yEmiha,  running  from  Milan  to  Parma.  It  was 
burnt  by  the  Gauls  in  B.C.  200,  but  soon  began  to  flourish  again.  In  546 
it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Goths,  but  continued  to  be  an  important  city. 
It  was  one  of  the  first  Italian  towns  which  organised  itself  into  a  Re- 
public, took  part  with  Milan  in  the  war  against  Frederick  Barbarossa, 
and  was  one  of  the  principal  members  of  the  Lombardic  league.  In 
1250  Uberto  Pallavicino  was  its  lord.  He  was  succeeded  by  Charles  of 
Anjou,  who  was  followed  in  1290  by  Alberto  Scoto.  In  1313  it  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Visconti,  who  were  rivals  with  the  papacy  in  its 
sovereignty.  In  1447  it  was  stormed  by  Francesco  Sforza  ;  in  1499  it 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  returned  to  the  Pope  after  the  battle 
Ravenna  (1582),  then  again  to  Francis  I.  Having  been  recovered  by 
Leo  X.,  it  remained  papal,  till  Paul  III,  raised  it  into  a  duchy  under  his 
grandson,  Pierluigi  Farnese.  Antonio  was  the  last  lord  of  the  House 
of  Farnese.  After  a  short  interregnum  under  Philip  V.  of  Spain,  the 
emperor  Charles  V,,  and  Charles  Emanuel  of  Sardinia,  the  Duchy,  to- 


i88  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

gether  with  Parma  and  Guastalla,  came  to  Philip  of  Bourbon  at  the 
treaty  of  Aquisgrana  (1748).  Napoleon  I.  included  it  in  the  "  49buone 
citti  deir  Impero,"  and  gave  it  new  arms.  After  the  fall  of  the  Emperor, 
his  wife,  Maria  Louisa,  was  regent  of  Piacenza,  and  after  her  death  in 
1847,  the  Duchy  returned  to  the  Bourbons.  In  1848  Piacenza  was  the 
first  town  which,  freeing  itself  from  Austria,  joined  Piedmont,  but  the 
Austrians  re-occupied  it,  and  Charles  III.  again  became  its  Duke,  but 
was  stabbed  in  1854.  Piacenza  was  annexed  to  the  kingdom  of  Victor 
Emanuel  in  1859. 

Piacenza  may  be  seen  between  two  trains,  and  this  will 
be  facilitated  by  excellent  carriages  at  two  francs  an  hour  : 
but  much  more  time  may  advantageously  be  given. 

Inns.     La  Croce  Bianca,  good  and  reasonable  ;  Italia  ;  S.  Marco. 
Vetturino,  for  carriages   to   Bobbio,  Velleja,   &c.,  Fratelli  Tenelli, 
"Piazza  dei  Cavalli,  Via  del  Sopramuro. 

Entering  the  town  from  the  station  we  should  turn  to  the 
right  by  the  fine  brick  Church  of  S.  Savino  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  It  has  a  tenth  century  crypt  and  a  tesselated 
pavement.     We  should  then  take  a  street  on  the  left  to 

The  Duomo,  which  is  chiefly  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
Its  campanile,  300  feet  high,  was  built  in  1333.  Halfway 
up  it  is  an  iron  cage,  erected  in  1495  by  Ludovico  il  Moro, 
for  the  exposure  of  criminals  guilty  of  sacrilege.  In  the 
west  front  are  three  grand  projecting  porches,  adorned  with 
quaint  bas-reliefs,  and  with  pillars  resting  upon  lions,  or  the 
backs  of  men  who  are  riding  upon  monsters.  The  solemn 
effect  of  the  interior  of  this  ancient  Gothic  church  is  greatly 
marred  by  the  frescoes  with  which  it  is  decorated,  though 
they  are  beautiful  in  themselves.  The  choir  has  rich  stall- 
work  of  1 47 1  by  Gian-Giacomo  of  Genoa.  Between  the 
nave  and  transepts  is  an  octagonal  cupola  adorned  with 
frescoes    of  prophets   and    sibyls,   &c.,   by   Guercino  and 


S.  ANTONINO.    S.    VINCENZO.  189 

Morazzone.  Lower  down  are  figures  of  Charity,  Truth, 
Chastity,  and  Humility,  by  Franchini. 

Over  the  high  altar  is  the  Ascension  of  the  Virgin,  with 
sibyls  at  the  sides,  by  C.  Procaccini ;  on  the  vault  above  the 
apse  is  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  by  Ann.  Caracci ;  on 
the  vault  of  the  choir  are  the  Consecration  of  the  Virgin, 
by  C.  Procaccini,  and  the  Fathers  of  the  Church  in  Hades, 
by  Lod.  Caracci ;  on  one  side  of  the  choir  are  the  Nativity 
of  the  Virgin  and  the  Salutation,  by  Lod.  Caracci,  on  the 
other  are  the  Visitation  and  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  by 
C.  Procaccini.  Over  the  west  door  is  a  beautiful  piece  of 
tabernacle-work  of  1479,  when  B.  Gropallo  executed  the 
painting  and  Antonio  Burlonghi  the  sculpture.  The  laby- 
rinth of  pillars  in  the  large  crypt  is  very  picturesque. 

From  the  west  porch  the  "  Contrada  Dritta  "—the  jewel- 
lers' street,  where  the  pretty  angular  gold  pins  made  at 
Piacenza  are  sold — leads  to  the  principal  square,  but  if  we 
turn  to  the  left  and  then  to  the  right,  we  pass  the 

Church  of  S.  Antonino,  once  the  cathedral,  founded  in 
324,  on  a  spot  where  S.  Barnabas  is  said  to  have  preached. 
It  has  been  frequently  restored,  but  some  portions  of  1350 
are  very  striking,  especially  the  octagonal  bell-tower,  and  the 
grand  porch,  called  "  II  Paradiso,"  consisting  of  a  vast  single 
arch  beneath  a  rose  window,  and  enriched  with  delicate  terra- 
cotta cornices  and  pinnacles.  Outside  the  west  porch  are 
two  ancient  stone  sarcophagi. 

Near  S.  Antonino  is  the  Church  of  S.  Vinccnzo,  con- 
taining pictures  of  David  and  Isaiah,  painted  by  Camillo 
Bocaccino  in  1530  ;  also  near  this  a  small  chapel  with  a  most 
beautifully  decorated  round-headed  door. 

From  S.  Antonino  a  street  to  the  right  takes  us  to  the 


I90  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

great  square,  the  centre  of  life  in  Piacenza,  which  is  called 
the  Piazza  dei  Cavalii,  from  its  statues.  This  square  is  one 
of  the  most  picturesque  in  Lombardy.  The  whole  of  the 
south  side  is  occupied  by  the  splendid  Palazzo  Communale, 
most  lovely  and  harmonious  in  colour ;  on  the  east  a  smaller 
piazza  opens  upon  the  fine  Church  of  S.  Fra7icesco,v^\{\Q!ii  has 
a  lofty  brick  front  ornamented  with  terra-cotta  (1278),  and 
which  contains  a  cupola  and  an  altar-piece  (4th  chapel  on 
right)  by  Malosso.  In  front  of  the  great  palace  stand  two 
grand  equestrian  statues  by  Francesco  Mocchi,  a  pupil  of 
Giovanni  da  Bologna.  That  on  the  right  (erected  1624)  is 
Alessandro  Farnese,  Governor  of  the  Netherlands,  and 
"  the  Prince  of  Parma,"  of  the  reign  of  our  Elizabeth.  That 
on  the  left  (erected  1620)  is  his  son  Ranuccio,  celebrated 
for  his  oppression  and  cruelties.  Those  who  have  visited 
the  glorious  palace  of  Caprarola  will  have  become  familiar 
with  the  story  of  these  nephews  of  Paul  III.,  which  is  told 
there  in  the  endless  frescoes  of  the  Zuccheri. 

There  are  few  buildings  which  deserve  more  careful  study 
than  the  Palazzo  Communale. 

"  This  building  was  erected  by  the  merchants  of  Piacenza,  and  was 
begun  in  1281.  The  lower  part  of  it  is  of  red  and  white  limestone,  and 
in  the  pointed  style  ;  the  upper  half  is  in  the  round  style,  and  of  brick, 
with  terra-cotta  mouldings  and  ornaments.  This  building  is  one  of  the 
many  instances  which  prove  that  the  Saracenic  style,  finding  its  way 
through  Venice,  had  in  the  middle  ages  a  partial  influence  upon  the 
architecture  of  Italy.  The  windows  and  the  forked  battlements  of  this 
building  are  in  a  Saracenic  manner,  and  the  Saracenic  passion  for 
variety  appears  in  the  dissimilarity  of  its  parts,  for  the  windows  of  the 
front  are  varied,  and  the  two  ends  of  the  building  are  purposely  made 
unlike  each  other.  It  is  a  noble  building,  in  spite  of  its  anomalies  and 
mixture  of  different  styles  and  materials." — Gaily  Knight. 

A  street  to  the  left  of  the  Palazzo  Communale  leads  past 


S.    MARIA    BELLA    CAMPAGNA.  igi 

the  Church  of  S.  Sepolcro,  a  very  grand  work  of  Bramante 
(1531),  now  used  as  a  barrack,  to  the  Church  of  S.  Maria 
del/a  Campagna,  near  the  gate  towards  Alessandria.  This 
(also  due  to  Bramante)  is  a  perfect  gallery  of  the  grand 
works  of  Giovanfii  Antojiio  Licinio  Regillo,  commonly  called 
//  Pordenone.  A  competition  was  proposed  for  the  honour 
of  painting  the  chapels  and  cupola,  and  different  artists  were 
desired  to  produce  something  as  a  sample  of  their  powers. 
Two  of  these  remain  at  the  entrance  of  the  church — a 
S.  George  by  Gatti,  on  the  right,  and  S.  Augustine  by 
Pordenone  on  the  left.  Upon  looking  at  this  picture,  with 
its  awkward  principal  figure  and  sprawling  angels,  one  won- 
ders that  its  painter  should  have  been  successful,  yet  in  the 
next  chapel  (of  the  Magi)  we  are  quite  carried  away  by  his 
wondrous  power.  First,  we  have  an  immense  picture  of  the 
Birth  of  the  Virgin,  with  the  Flight  into  Egypt  in  the 
lunette  above  ;  then  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  with  the 
Nativity  above.  At  the  next  altar  are  S.  Francis  receiving 
the  Stigmata,  with  smaller  subjects  from  his  life,  and 
S.  Sebastian  and  S.  Roch  by  C.  Procaccitii.  Then  comes 
the  Chapel  of  Catherine,  entirely  by  Pordenone,  with  two 
grand  pictures  representing  the  saint  disputing  with  the 
Doctors,  and  her  allegorical  marriage  with  the  Infant 
Saviour.  In  the  former  (a  fresco)  the  artist  has  introduced 
his  own  portrait  in  the  figure  of  the  Doctor  who  is  lying 
upon  the  ground  with  an  open  book,  in  the  latter  in  the 
figure  of  S.  Paul.  These  pictures  were  executed  in  1546 
for  the  Countess  Scotta  Fontana,  who  built  the  chapel. 
The  frescoes  in  the  cupola  are  most  difficult  to  see,  but 
they  are  also  by  Pordenone.  Scriptural  and  mythological 
subjects  are  here  incongruously  mingled.    Above  the  arches 


192  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

of  the  nave  and  choir  is  a  frieze  of  pictures  by  Guercino, 
Gavassetti,  Tiarini,  and  Crespi.  In  the  choir,  behind  the 
altar,  are  a  S.  Catherine  of  Pordenone,  and  an  Annunciation 
of  Bocaccino.  The  proportions  of  the  church  (a  Greek 
cross)  have  been  injured  by  additions  to  this  choir. 

Returning  to  the  town,  and  turning  left,  we  reach  the  de- 
serted monastery  and  the  Church  of  S.  Sisto.  Over  its  altar 
hung  the  famous  Madonna  di  S.  Sisto,  which  was  sold  by 
the  monks  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony  in  1754.  A  copy,  by 
Aranzini,  hangs  in  its  place  (looking  wonderfully  small)  and 
is  said  to  occupy  the  original  frame.  In  the  3rd  and  4th 
chapels  on  the  right  are  two  pictures  of  the  Virgin  and 
Child,  with  saints,  by  C.  Procaccini.  On  the  right  of  the  choir 
are  the  Slaughter  of  the  Innocents,  by  C.  Procaccini ;  the 
Martyrdom  of  S.  Benedetto  and  S.  Flaviano  by  Paolo  and 
Orazio  Farinato  degli  Uberti,  and  the  Martyrdom  of  S. 
Barbara,  by  Palma  Giovane.  On  the  left  of  the  choir 
is  the  Martyrdom  of  S.  Martina,  by  Bassano.  Under  the 
high  altar  is  an  urn  with  the  body  of  S.  Sistus,  the  Pope, 
and  in  the  crypt  beneath  are  many  altars  rich  in  saintly 
bodies,  the  same,  however,  which  are  claimed  by  many 
other  churches  in  Italy.  The  stalls  of  the  choir  have 
beautiful  intarsiaiura-yKOr^i.  In  the  north  transept  is  the 
black  and  white  marble  monument  of  Margaret  of  Austria, 
wife  of  Ottavio  Farnese  (1586)  by  Giacinto  Fiorejitino. 

Between  S.  Sisto  and  the  station  we  pass  the  stately  old 
Palazzo  Farnese,  now  used  as  a  barrack.  It  was  built 
from  designs  of  Vignola,  (the  architect  of  Caprarola)  by 
Margaret  of  Austria,  in  1558.  From  one  of  its  windows 
the  body  of  Pier  Luigi  Farnese  was  shown  to  the  people  by 
his  murderers,  and  then  thrown  into  the  ditch  beneath. 


5.    LAZZARO.  193 

Many  other  buildings  may  be  visited  by  those  who  linger 
in  Piacenza.  Among  them,  the  Church  of  S.  Agostino,  by 
Vignola,  now  half-ruined,  and  S.  Giovanni  in  Canale^  a 
church  of  the  Templars,  which  contains  a  tomb  by  Algardi 
to  Orazio  Scotti. 

Only  a  mile  from  Piacenza,  in  the  direction  of  Parma, 
is  the  great  leper-hospital  of  .S.  Lazzaro,  now  turned  into  an 
ecclesiastical  seminary.  In  the  room  called  "  the  Cardinal's 
Chamber  "  (from  Cardinal  Alberoni,  who  left  his  property 
to  the  college)  are  : — 

Taddeo  Zucchero.     Our  Saviour  appearing  to  S.  Francesca  Romana. 

Borgognone.     Knights  on  horseback. 

P.  Perugino.     Virgin  and  Child. 

M.  Polidoro  di  Caravaggio.     Portrait  of  himself. 

The  church  contains  the  tomb  of  Alberoni,  and  a  picture 
of  the  Crucifixion  by  C.  Frocaccini. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Piacenza,  S.  Roch  is  especially 
reverenced,  for — 

"  He  travelled  from  city  to  city  ;  and  wherever  he  heard  that  there 
was  pestilence  and  misery  prevailing,  there  was  he  found,  and  a  blessing 
waited  on  his  presence.  At  length  he  came  to  the  city  of  Piacenza, 
where  an  epidemic  of  a  frightful  and  unknown  kind  had  broken  out 
amongst  the  people ;  he  presented  himself,  as  usual,  to  assist  in  the 
hospital ;  but  here  it  pleased  God  to  put  him  even  to  that  trial  for  which 
he  had  so  often  prayed— to  subject  him  to  the  same  suffering  and  afflic- 
tion which  he  had  so  often  alleviated— and  made  him  in  his  turn  de- 
pendant on  the  charity  of  others  for  aid  and  for  sympathy. 

"  One  night,  being  in  the  hospital,  he  sank  down  on  the  ground, 
overpowered  by  fatigue  and  want  of  sleep ;  on  awaking  he  found  him- 
self plague-stricken  ;  a  fever  burned  in  every  limb,  and  a  horrible  ulcer 
had  broken  out  in  his  left  thigh.  The  pain  was  so  insupportable  that  it 
obliged  him  to  shriek  aloud  :  fearing  to  disturb  the  inmates  of  the 
hospital,  he  crawled  into  the  street ;  but  here  the  officers  of  the  city 
would  not  allow  him  to  remain,  lest  he  should  spread  infection  around. 
VOL.  II.  13 


194  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

He  yielded  meekly ;  and  supported  only  by  his  pilgrim's  staff,  dragged 
himself  to  a  wood  or  wilderness  outside  the  gates  of  Piacenza,  and  there 
laid  himself  down,  as  he  thought,  to  die. 

' '  But  God  did  not  forsake  him  ;  far  from  all  human  help,  all  human 
sympathy,  he  was  watched  over  and  cared  for.  He  had  a  little  dog, 
which  in  all  his  pilgrimage  had  faithfully  attended  him  ;  this  dog  every 
day  went  to  the  city,  and  came  back  at  evening  with  a  loaf  of  bread  in 
his  mouth,  though  where  he  obtained  it  none  could  tell.  Moreover, 
as  the  legend  relates,  an  angel  from  heaven  came  and  dressed  his  wound, 
and  comforted  him,  and  ministered  to  him  in  his  solitude  until  he  was 
healed. — Jameson's  Sacred  Art,  II.,  427. 


Piacenza  is  the  best  point  from  which  to  make  the  excur- 
sion-  to  the  famous  Abbey  of  Bobbio  (32  ItaUan  miles  from 
Piacenza)  founded  by  S.  Columba  in  612  and  contain- 
ing his  toinb,  whence  all  the  palimpsests  known  in  the 
world  have  at  some  time  or  other  emerged.  It  is  a  most 
fatiguing  expedition.  A  carriage  for  three  people  costs 
15  frs.  to  I  Periti;  when  the  road  is  finished  it  will  probably 
cost  20  frs.  to  Bobbio. 

The  road  crosses  a  rich  plain  to  the  fine  old  castle  of 
Niviano,  now  a  silk  factory.  A  little  beyond  this  it  enters 
the  valley  of  the  Trebbia  and  passes  under  the  still-inhabited 
castle  of  Moiite  Chiaro.  By  1877  the  road  from  Piacenza 
to  Genoa  will  probably  be  finished  and  will  pass  through 
Bobbio.  In  1875  there  was  no  road  beyond  /  Periti,  22 
miles  from  Piacenza,  where  it  was  necessary  to  engage  (5  fr.) 
the  white  mule  of  the  contadino  Napoleone,  and  to  follow,  as 
one  best  could,  sometimes  the  stony  bed  of  the  Trebbia, 
sometimes  the  steep  rocky  path  in  the  hills  overhanging  it, 
for  7  miles,  till,  about  2  miles  from  Bobbio,  one  could  join 
the  road  from  Pavia.  The  large  town  of  Bobbio  stands  in 
the  upper  valley  of  the  Trebbia,  encircled  by  luxuriantly 


HISTORY   OF  BOBBIO.  195 

wooded  hills,  and  has  a  long  bridge  of  many  arches  of 
different  forms  and  sizes.  Deserted  and  neglected  as 
Bobbio  is  now  it  must  always  have  a  special  interest  as  the 
place  where  "  S.  Columba  lighted  the  flame  of  science  and 
learning,  which  for  a  long  time  made  it  the  torch  of  Northern 
Italy,"  *  and  whose  school  and  library  were  perhaps  the 
most  celebrated  of  the  middle  ages. 

S.  Columba,  the  great  rival  of  S.  Benedict,  was  born  in 
Leinster  in  543,  the  year  of  S.  Benedict's  death.  The 
temptations  to  which  his  great  personal  beauty  exposed  him 
and  the  admonitions  of  a  female  hermit,  who  bade  him  take 
warning  by  Adam,  Samson,  David,  and  Solomon,  made  him 
enter  the  monastery  of  Bangor  at  a  very  early  age.  Hence 
the  thirst  for  a  more  severe  rule  of  life  drove  him  across  the 
sea,  and  he  was  welcomed  by  Gontran,  king  of  Burgundy, 
who  assigned  him  a  hermitage  at  Annegray  near  the  Vosges. 
Here  he  lived,  in  perpetual  mortification,  on  charity,  on  the 
shoots  of  wild  myrtle  and  other  herbs.  Like  8.  Francis,  he 
was  beloved  by  all  beasts ;  the  birds  descended  to  caress 
him ;  squirrels  took  refuge  in  the  sleeves  of  his  habit ;  a  bear 
resigned  its  cave  to  him.  At  length,  numbers  of  disciples 
collecting  around  him,  he  founded  the  monasteries  of 
Annegray,  Luxeuil,  and  Fontaines.  Here  he  introduced  the 
extreme  severities  of  what  was  called  "  the  Irish  rule,"  the 
smallest  offences  being  visited  with  severe  fasts  and  relent- 
less corporal  punishments.  Yet  he  was  not  content  with 
outward  observances.  "  To  mortify  the  flesh  of  the  soul  that 
bears  no  fruit,"  he  preached  at  Luxeuil,  "  is  to  till  the  ground 
and  to  disregard  the  harvest.  What  is  the  use  of  making 
war  abroad  if  there  is  civil  war  within.     A  religion  of  out- 

•  Montalembert 


196  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

ward  acts  is  vain,  true  piety  consists  in  humility  of  the 
heart  and  not  in  genuflexions."  Yet  the  monkish  nobles 
continued  to  flock  around  him,  imploring  him  to  cut  off  their 
long  hair,  at  once  the  sign  of  nobility  and  liberty,  and  with 
all  his  severity  of  rule,  he  combined  the  personal  tenderness 
of  a  father,  while  the  interest  which  he  took  in  each  of  his 
monks  individually  is  shown  by  his  letters,  which  begin — 
"  To  his  most  sweet  sons,  to  his  very  dear  pupils,  to  his 
brothers  in  the  frugal  life  ;  Columba  the  sinner." 

Shocked  at  the  immoralities  of  the  young  king  Thierry  II. 
and  the  cruelties  of  his  grandmother  Brunehaut,  he  threat- 
ened them  with  excommunication,  and  was  expelled  from 
the  kingdom.  His  exile  was  like  a  triumphal  progress ; 
what  were  regarded  as  miracles  attended  him  at  every  step, 
and  as,  when  he  was  embarked  at  the  mouth  of  the  Loire, 
the  ship  stranded  on  a  sandbank,  it  was  received  as  an  omen, 
and  he  was  permitted  to  go  where  he  would.  After  visiting 
the  court  of  Neustria,  he  joined  S.  Gall,  also  an  Irish 
missionary,  and  in  his  company  evangelised  the  Pagan 
tribes  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  broke  in  pieces  the 
idols  on  the  shores  of  the  lakes  of  Zurich  and  Constance. 
Having  prophesied  with  exact  fidelity  the  misfortunes  which 
would  arise  from  the  war  between  the  brothers  Theodobert 
of  Austrasia  and  Thierry  of  Burgundy,  he  left  S.  Gall  to  com- 
plete his  work  in  Switzerland,  and  passed  into  Italy.  Here 
he  was  welcomed  by  Agilulf,  king  of  the  Lombards,  and 
the  great  Theodolinda  his  wife,  who  allowed  him  to  establish 
himself  where  he  pleased.  He  at  once  began  to  attack  the 
Arianism  which  was  prevalent  in  the  north  of  Italy,  and, 
choosing  Bobbio  on  the  Trebbia  as  a  residence,  made  it 
"  the  citadel  of  orthodoxy  against  the  Arians."     It  was  in 


HISTORY    OF  BOB  BIO.  197 

A.D.  612  that  Columba  came  to  Bobbio.  A  ruined  church 
dedicated  to  S.  Peter  already  existed  there.  This  he  re- 
stored, personally  labouring  at  the  work  in  spite  of  his  great 
age.  He  refused  all  invitations  from  the  Frankish  kings  to 
recross  the  Alps,  but  continued  by  letters  to  direct  the  affairs 
of  all  the  institutions  he  had  founded,  especially  those  of 
Luxeuil,  and  wrote  a  number  of  poems  which  still  exist.  As 
a  specimen  we  may  give  the  farewell  of  his  last  letters  from 
Bobbio  to  his  friend  Fedolius — 

"  Haec  tibi  dictabam,  morbis  oppressus  amaris, 
Corpore  quos  fragili  patior  tristique  senectce. 
Nam  dum  praecipiti  labuntur  tempora  cursu. 
Nunc  ad  olympiadis  ter  sense  venimus  annos. 
Omnia  prsetereunt,  fugit  irreparabile  tempus. 
Vive,  vale  Isetus,  tristisque  memento  senectse." 

Having  established  his  foundation,  Columba  retired  into 
a  cave  on  the  other  side  of  the  Trebbia,  where  he  had  dedi- 
cated a  chapel  to  the  Virgin.  Here  he  passed  his  last  days 
in  fasting  and  prayer,  only  returning  to  the  monastery  on 
Sundays  and  feastdays,  and  here  he  died  Nov.  21,  615,  in 
his  chapel,  which  long  remained  an  object  of  pilgrimage. 
S.  Columba  left  Bobbio  one  of  the  most  active  intellectual 
centres  in  the  peninsula.  "  The  light  which  he  shed  by  his 
learning  and  his  doctrine  in  all  the  places  where  he  appeared 
has  been  compared  by  a  contemporary  writer  to  the  course 
of  the  sun  from  east  to  west,  and  he  continued,  after  his 
death,  to  shine  through  the  disciples  whom  he  had  educated 
to  learning  and  piety."  * 

The  immediate  successor  of  Columba  at  Bobbio  was 
his  friend  Attala,  whom  he  had  left  Abbot  of  Luxeuil,  but 
whose  affection  had  led  to  his  following  him  across  the  Alps. 

•  HisL  Litter,  de  la  France,  iii. 


198  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

He  enforced  to  the  full  the  rule  which  Coluraba  had 
established,  that — "  The  monk  must  live  under  the  rule 
of  one  and  in  the  company  of  many,  in  order  to  learn 
humility  from  the  one  and  patience  from  the  other.  He 
must  not  do  that  which  is  pleasing  to  himself.  He  must  eat 
that  which  is  given  him,  must  possess  nothing  but  that 
which  is  doled  out  to  him,  must  obey  those  who  are  dis- 
tasteful to  him.  He  must  go  to  bed  so  weary  that  he  falls 
asleep  on  the  way,  yet  he  must  arise  before  his  sleep  is 
satisfied.  He  must  fear  his  superior  as  God,  and  he  must 
love  him  as  a  father.  He  must  never  pass  a  judgment 
upon  the  decision  of  his  elders.  His  duty  is  to  obey  orders, 
according  to  the  words  of  Moses — "  Hear,  O  Israel,  and  be 
silent  1 " 

The  number  of  Frankish,  Italian,  and  Lombard  monks 
who  had  now  collected  at  Bobbio,  included  many  who  found 
themselves  unable  to  submit  to  its  rule,  and,  under  Attala, 
a  rebellion  took  place.  But  he  allowed  the  malcontents  to 
leave,  following  the  wTitten  advice  of  Columba — "  it  is  of  no 
use  to  be  of  one  body,  if  one  is  not  of  one  heart " — and  his 
society  continued  to  flourish.  Through  the  favour  of 
Theodolinda,  all  the  privileges  of  the  monastery  were  con- 
firmed to  reward  his  zeal  against  Arianism,  and  having  en- 
larged the  abbey,  he  died  in  the  odour  of  sanctity  in  627,  at 
the  foot  of  the  crucifix  which  he  had  placed  at  the  entrance 
of  his  cell,  that  he  might  always  salute  it  on  entering  or 
going  out. 

The  third  abbot  was  S.  Bertulphus,  under  whom  the 
privileges  of  the  abbey  were  confirmed  by  the  Arian  Ario- 
wald.  This  chieftain  had  been  won  over,  because,  when 
the   monk  Blidulf,  being  at  Pavia,  refused  to  salute  him 


HISTORY   OF  BOBBIO.  199 

(being  an  Arian),  one  of  his  soldiers  attacked  him  and  left 
him  for  dead,  but  the  monk  recovered  and  his  assailant  fell 
mortally  ill,  which,  in  the  spirit  of  those  times,  established 
the  invincibility  of  Columba, 

Bertulphus,  dying  in  640,  was  succeeded  by  the  Greek 
Bobbolena,  and  he  by  the  Irish  Glongell,  and  from  this 
time  for  several  centuries,  many  of  the  most  celebrated 
European  teachers  and  bishops  belonged  at  some  time  or 
other  to  Bobbio.* 

"  La  prodigieuse  activite  intellectuale  dont  les  moines  de  Bobbio 
firent  preuve  durant  cette  periode,  n'indique-t-elle  pas  que,  sans  compter 
d'autres  mobiles,  ils  furent  alors  soumis  a  la  double  impulsion  egalement 
puissante,  egalement  fertile  en  lesultats  avantageux  pour  la  science  et 
les  lettres  ?  Le  genie  de  Saint  Benoit  et  celui  de  Saint  Columban 
s'unirent  done  en  ce  monastere  pour  y  repandre  leur  lumineuse  influence, 
comme  deux  astres  jumeaux  qui  se  rapprochent  et,  confondant  leurs 
rayons,  eclairent  d'autant  mieux  un  meme  point  de  ciel." — Dantier. 

In  964,  Gerbert  of  Auvergne,  tutor  of  Otho  II.  (and 
afterwards  Archbishop  of  Ravenna,  and  Pope  as  Sylvester 
II.)  was  made  Abbot  of  Bobbio,  and  it  was  to  his  studies 
here  that  the  accusation  of  magic  afterwards  brought  against 
him  was  applied.  After  the  nth  century  the  abbey  began 
to  dechne.  The  magnificent  Ubrary  collected  by  Columba 
and  his  successors  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Florentine 
book  hunters  of  the  time  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici ;  Tommaso 
Inghirami,  librarian  of  Julius  II.  carried  off  many  of  its 
most  precious  treasures  to  the  Vatican,  and  the  greater  part 
of  those  remaining  were  sold  by  the  Abbot  Paolo  Silvarezza 
in  the  time  of  Paul  V.  Mabillon,  visiting  Bobbio  in  the 
17th  century,  found  it  '*  only  the  shadow  of  its  foimer  self." 

*  Amongst  the  most  remarkable  of  the  monks  was  Jonas  of  Susa,  who  travelled  to 
Ireland  and  Luxeuil  for  his  materials  and  then  wrote  the  life  of  S.  Columba. 


200  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

It  is  at  the  upper  end  of  the  little  town  that  the  great 
Church  of  S.  Colmnbano  stands,  joining  the  now  desecrated 
monastery  with  its  immense  buildings.  The  west  front  of 
the  church  is  of  brick  with  terra  cotta  ornaments,  and  has 
an  arched  atrium.     It  is  a  Latin  cross,  the  nave  being  ex- 


Bobbio. 


ceedingly  lofty,  with  low  narrow  aisles,  but  it  is  so  spoilt  by 
paint  and  whitewash  as  to  show  little  of  its  original  character. 
Over  the  chancel  arch  is  a  curious  picture  of  Columba 
founding  the  monastery,  throned  amongst  its  other  benefac- 
tors. The  choir  has  fine  old  stall-work.  But  the  crypt  is 
the  shrine  of  all  that  is  most  precious  in  Bobbio.  On  the 
walls,  supported  on  brackets,  are  the  sarcophagi  of  the 
canonized  abbots,  and  amongst  those  on  the  left,  that  of  the 
Scotch  S.  Cummian,  who  coming  hither  into  retreat,  died 
here  in  722.  His  tomb  was  erected  by  King  Luitprand 
who,  in  the  epitaph,  recommends  himself  to  the  prayers  of 
the  holy  bishop,  "  who  for  20  years  gave  the  companions  of 
his  austerities  an  example  of  monastic  virtue." 

On  either  side  of  the  high  altar  are  S.  Attala  and  S. 
Bertulphus.  The  altar,  which  supports  the  gilt  shrine  of 
Columba,   is  decorated  with   several  curious  reliefs,   viz., 


k 


TOMB    OF  S.    COLUMBA.  20l 

1.  His  vision,  bidding  him  to  found  the  monastery.  2.  His 
receiving  the  permission  of  the  Pope.  3.  His  converting 
the  natives,  out  of  whom  many  devils  are  flying.  Behind, 
is  the  venerable  figure  of  Columba,  partly  coloured,  with  his 
mitre,  pastoral  staff,  &c.,  and  his  feet  resting  on  an  open 
book,  inscribed  on  the  one  page — "  Nequaquam  ex  his 
comedetis  nisi  quos  dimisistis  venerint,"  and,  on  the  other — 
"Tanta  piscium  copia  est  rete  impletum  ut  vix  pro  multi- 
tudine  trahi  potuisset." — Close  to  S.  Columba  is  buried  the 
abbot  Wala,  who  came  hither  from  Corbey,  and  greatly  en- 
riched the  monastery  and  its  library.  He  was  sent  to  con- 
clude an  alliance  between  Lothaire  and  Louis  le  Debonnaire 
and  the  Empress  Judith,  and  died  at  the  court  of  Pavia  on 
his  return. 

In  the  cloisters  is  a  bust  in  honour  of  Agilulph,  by  whom 
the  lands  were  given  to  Columba. 

Next  to  its  saints,  its  manuscripts  have  rendered  Bobbio 
famous. 

"...  Puisque  c'est  a  Bobbio  qu'ont  ete  decouvertes  les  oeuvres 
manuscrites  de  Cassianus  Bassus,  d'Adamantius  Martyrius,  de  Probus, 
de  Sergius  le  grammairien,  et  de  Cornelius  Fronton,  le  precepteur  de 
Marc  Aurele.  Plus  tard  le  correspondence  de  ce  meme  Fronton  avec 
I'empereur,  son  eleve,  sera  extraite  par  I'erudition  moderne  des  palimp- 
sestes  de  Bobbio  qui  fourniront  encore,  outre  la  Republique  de  Ciceron, 
les  plaidoyers  de  cet  orateur  pour  Scaurus,  TuUius,  et  Flaccus.  Devan- 
5ant  ces  decouvertes  de  notre  epoque,  I'auteur  de  VJter  italicum  eut  la 
consolation,  malgre  I'etat  de  denument  od  il  trouva  la  bibliotlieque  de 
I'antique  monastere  de  Saint  Columban,  d'y  recueillir  encore  quelques 
glanes  echappees  a  ceux  qui  y  avaient  moisonne  avant  lui.  II  en  rapporta 
notamment  le  tres-ancien  et  tres-curieux  manuscrit  sur  la  liturgie  galli- 
cane,  qu'il  publia  sous  le  litre  de  Sacramentarium  GalUcanum,  et  qui, 
d'apres  toute  vraisemblance,  autrefois  en  usage  dans  les  eglises  de  la 
Burgondie  oil  etait  situe  Luxeuil,  passa  de  ce  monastere  a  celui  de 
Bobbio. " — Dantier. 

"  Apres  douze  siecles  ecoules  et  du  fond  des  cendres  amoncelees  du 


aoa  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

passe,  un  dernier  rayon  de  cette  gloire  intellectuelle  a  resplendi  de  nos 
jours  sur  la  derniere  fondation  de  Saint  Columban.  Le  palimpseste  de 
la  Vaticane,  d'ou  le  genie  de  la  patience,  personifie  dans  le  cardinal 
Mai,  a  tire  le  De  Republicd  de  Ciceron,  provenait  de  cette  bibliotheque, 
et  cet  illustre  parchemin  porte  encore  I'inscription  :  Liber  sancti 
Columbani  de  Bobbio." — Montalembert. 

In  the  piazza  of  the  town  is  the  Duomo,  into  which  you 
descend  by  steps.  It  has  a  huge  Lombard  nave,  separated 
by  very  heavy  piers  from  very  low.  aisles.  The  choir  is 
reached  from  the  nave  by  a  flight  of  steps  which  gives  space 
for  the  lofty  crypt.  It  is  in  the  late  return  (for  it  can 
scarcely  be  otherwise)  from  Bobbio,  that  the  traveller  will 
probably  have  his  first  experience  of  night  travelling  in  the 
Apennines. 

*'The  Apennine  in  the  light  of  day 
Is  a  mighty  mountain  dim  and  grey 
Which  between  the  earth  and  sky  doth  lay  : 
But  when  night  comes,  a  chaos  dread 
On  the  dim  starlight  then  is  spread. 
And  the  Apennine  walks  abroad  with  the  storm." — Shelley. 


From  Piacenza  an  excursion  of  20  miles  may  be  made  to 
the  remains  of  the  Roman  city  Vellda,  long  btu-ied  by  a 
landslip,  and  chiefly  disinterred  in  1760.  The  ruins  are  in- 
significant, and  the  principal  objects  found  have  been  re- 
moved to  the  Museum  at  Parma.  The  road  to  Velleia 
passes  the  castle  and  villa  (by  Vignola)  of  the  Scotti  family, 
at  San  Giorgio. 


A  branch  line  of  railway  leads  from  Piacenza  to  Milan 
through  country  so  rich  as  to  verify  the  proverb,  "  La  Lom- 
bardia  b  il  giardino  del  mondo."     The  principal  station  is 


LODI.  203 

Lodi  (Inns  :  Sole,  Europa),  which,  however,  is  scarcely  worth 
a  special  visit.  The  Roman  settlement,  founded  by  Cn. 
Pompeius  Strabo,  father  of  Pompey  the  Great,  was  called 
Laus  Pompeia  in  his  honour ;  it  was  afterwards  simply 
called  Zawj,  whence  Z^<//.  The  modern  city,  5  miles  distant 
from  the  old  site,  was  founded  by  Frederick  Barbarossa  in 
1158.  The  Duomo  has  a  fine  Lombard  porch  with  lions. 
A  curious  relief  of  the  Last  Supper  was  brought  from  the  old 
Lodi.  Near  the  high  altar  are  some  frescoes  by  Gugliclmo 
and  Alberto  di  Lodi,  till  lately  covered  with  whitewash. 

The  fine  Church  of  the  Incoronata,  built  by  Branianie, 
1476,  contains  pictures  and  frescoes  by  the  native  artist, 
Calisto  Piazza,  15 17-1556.  Twice  a  year  a  famous  fair  is 
held  at  Lodi  for  the  sale  of  Parmesan  cheese,  which  is 
all  made  near  this. 

The  capture  of  the  Bridge  of  Lodi  (over  the  Adda)  was 
one  of  the  great  exploits  of  Napoleon  and  Berthier,  May  10, 
1796,  when  it  was  defended  by  7000  Austrians  under 
Sebotendorfl 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
PARMA. 

IT  is  I J  hours  by  rail  from  Picenza  to  Parma,  6  frs.  40  c. ; 
5  frs.  15  c.  The  railway  crosses  a  level  plain.  Among 
the  stations  are — 

Fiorenziiola.  Where  the  collegiate  church  of  S.  Fiorenzo 
contains  beautiful  carved  stallwork,  and,  in  the  sacristy, 
some  fine  middle-age  works  of  art  From  hence  there  is  a 
nearer  road  than  that  from  Piacenza,  (by  Castel  Arqjiato, 
which  has  a  stately  Gothic  town  hall,  and  near  which  is 
Monte  Zago,  rich  in  fossil  remains)  to  the  Roman  Velleia. 
Now  on  the  left  is  Busseto,  the  capital  of  the  little  state 
(Stato  Pallavicino)  which  was  ruled  by  the  princely  family 
of  the  Pallavicini.  It  contains  a  fine  old  castle  (La  Rocca) 
where  a  meeting  took  place  between  Paul  III.  and 
Charles  V. 

Borgo  S.  Donino  (Inn  :  Croce  Bianco)  has  a  Gothic 
townhall,  and  a  thirteenth-century  cathedral,  one  of  the 
richest  and  most  beautiful  of  Lombard  buildings.  On  the 
exterior  are  curious  bas-reliefs.  The  porches  are  magnificent, 
and  have  different  names.  That  called  Taurus  is  decorated 
with  bulls,  that  called  Aries  with  rams,  &c. 

"  San  Donino,  in  whose  honour  this  church  was  erected,  was  a  soldier 
in  the  amiy  of  the  Emperor  Maximian,  and  served  under  his  orders  in 


S.  DONINO. 


205 


Germany.  Donino,  with  many  others,  became  a  christian ;  and  when 
Maximian  issued  an  edict,  ordering  all  persons  to  renounce  the  christian 
faith  on  pain  of  death,  Donino  fled,  but  was  overtaken  near  the  river 
Strione  by  the  emissaries  of  the  tyrant  and  immediately  put  to  death. 
Near  that  spot  there  was  at  that  time  a  village  called  Julia. 


At  Borgo  S.  Donino. 


In  362  the  Bishop  of  Parma,  admonished  by  a  dream,  sallied  forth 
and  discovered  the  body  of  Donino — known  to  be  that  of  the  martyr  by 
an  inscription  found  upon  the  spot,  and  by  the  sweet  odour  which  issued 
from  the  grave.  A  chapel  was  immediately  erected  to  receive  the  holy 
remains,  and  we  learn  from  a  letter  from  S.  Ambrose  to  Faustinus  that 
the  village  of  Julia  had  changed  its  name  into  that  of  San  Donino  as 
early  as  387. 

From  that  time  the  shrine  of  San  Donino  became  one  of  the  most 
frequented  in  Italy,  and  received  oblations  which  led  to  the  construction 
of  a  temple  on  a  larger  scale.  The  existing  church  is  a  large  building, 
and  has  undergone  various  alterations.     The  oldest  part  of  it  is  in  the 


2o6  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Lombard  style  ;  but  the  very  curious  and  rich  facade  belongs  to  times 
subsequent  to  those  of  the  Lombard  — to  times  when  the  imitation  of  the 
Roman  bas-relief  succeeded  to  the  monstrous  imagery  of  the  7th  and 
8th  centuries.  No  record  remains  of  the  period  at  which  this  fa9ade  was 
erected  ;  but  there  are  various  circumstances  which  give  us  reason  to 
believe  that  it  cannot  be  older  than  the  12th  century.  The  barbarous 
character  of  the  sculpture,  the  neglect  of  all  proportions,  the  heads  as 
large  as  the  bodies,  might  seem  to  indicate  a  remoter  antiquity  ;  but 
there  is  a  bas-relief  over  one  of  the  gates  of  Milan,  known  to  have  been 
executed  at  the  close  of  the  12th  century,  which  is  no  less  rude,  and 
which  proves  that  the  arts  of  Italy,  down  to  that  period,  continued  to 
be  in  a  state  of  the  lowest  depression.  The  projecting  portals,  the 
pediment  over  the  doors,  the  pillars  resting  on  animals,  are  all  features 
of  the  latter  part  of  the  nth  and  of  the  12th  century.'  — Gaily  Knight. 

We  now  pass  Paroia,  where  Ariosto  describes  the  castle 
built  by  the  Podestk  of  Parma  to  keep  the  Borghigiani 
in  check. 

"  Giacca  non  lungi  da  Parigi  un  loco, 
Che  volgea  un  miglio,  o  poco  meno  intorno, 
Lo  cingea  tutto  un  argine  non  poco 
Sublime,  a  guisa  d'un  teatio  adorno. 
Un  castel  gia  vi  fu,  ma  a  ferro,  e  a  fuoco 
Le  mura  e  i  tetti,  ed  a  rovina  andomo. 
Un  simil  puo  vederne  in  su  la  slrada, 
Qual  volta  a  Borgo  il  Parmigiano  vada." 

Orlando  Furioso,  xxvii.  47. 

At  La  Rocca  di  Fontenellato,  on  the  left  of  the  road,  three 
miles  beyond  this,  is  the  villa  of  the  San  Vitale  family, 
where  there  is  a  room  painted  in  fresco  by  Parmigianino. 
One  of  the  lunettes  contains  a  portrait  of  a  Countess  of 
San  Vitale. 

Near  Castel  Guelfo  station  is  the  castle  formerly  called 
Torre  d'Orlando,  from  its  lord  Orlando  Pallavicini,  a 
Ghibelline  chieftain,  but  which  changed  its  name  when  it 
was  taken  by  Ottone  Terzi,  of  Parma  (1407),  a  leader  of 
the  Guelfs. 


HISTORY  OF  PARMA.  207. 

We  now  cross  the  stony  bed  of  the  Taro,  which  is  entirely 
dry  except  in  rainy  season,  but  where  a  fine  bridge  erected 
by  Maria  Louisa  in  1816,  occupies  the  site  of  a  bridge  built 
in  1 1 70  through  the  begging  efforts  of  Nonantola,  a  poor 
hermit  Here  the  towers  of  Parma  come  in  sight,  and, 
skirting  the  garden  of  the  summer  palace,  we  enter  the 
station. 

Parma,  (Inns  :  Croce  Bianca,  tolerable  and  clean,  but 
a  thoroughly  ItaHan  inn — the  best  rooms  contain  curious 
old  pictures  and  majolica ;  La  Posta). 

Founded  by  the  Boian  Gauls,  on  the  river  of  the  same  name,  Parma 
was  made  a  Roman  colony  with  Modena  in  183  B.  c.  It  was  embel- 
lished by  Augustus,  and  then  received  the  name  of  Colonia  Julia.  We 
leam  from  Martial  that  it  was  celebrated  for  its  wool. 

"  Velleribus  primis  Apulia,  Parma  secundis 

Nobihs."  xiv.,  Ep.  53. 

"  Magnaque  Niliacae  servit  tibi  gleba  Syenae, 

Tondet  et  innumeros  Gallica  Parma  greges. " 

v.  Ep.  13. 

The  town  was  destroyed  by  Attila  in  452.  Theodoric  fortified  it 
again  and  built  an  aqueduct.  Under  the  Byzantine  rule  it  was  so 
flourishing  as  to  be  called  Chr)'Sopolis  (the  Golden  Town).  It  was  de- 
stroyed by  the  Lombards  ;  and  restored  again  in  773  under  Charlemagne. 
In  834  Cunigunda,  widow  of  Bernard,  King  of  Italy,  built  at  Parma 
the  convent  where  she  died.  In  the  llth  century  it  gave  to  the  Church 
the  Anti-Pope,  Cadalous,  1063,  and  Giberio  de'  Giberti,  1075.  By 
the  exertions  of  the  first  of  these,  the  cathedral  and  bishopric  were 
founded.  In  1247  the  Guelphic  town  successfully  withstood  a  siege 
from  Frederick  II.  In  1303  the  Republic  fell  under  the  power  of  Giberto 
da  Correggio  ;  then  of  Rolando  Rossi  ;  then  of  Gianquirici  Sanvitali ; 
of  Pope  John  XXII.  1326  ;  of  Louis  of  Bavaria,  1328  ;  and  of  John 
of  Bohemia,  1331.  From  1335  to  1341  Parma  was  in  the  possession  of 
the  Scalas,  who  sold  it  to  Lucchino  Visconti.  Bernabo  Visconti,  fearing 
the  hatred  of  the  citizens,  built  the  Castello  de  S.  Maria  Nuova,  where 


2o8  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

the  garden  now  is,  and  the  fortifications  on  the  Ponte  Verde.  In  1365 
a  plague,  which  lasted  nine  months,  carried  off  40,CXX)  inhabitants  ! 
After  the  death  of  Ludovico  il  Moro,  in  1 5 12,  with  short  intervals  of 
subjection  to  the  Visconti  and  Sfozza,  Parma  came  into  possession  of 
Pope  Julius  II.,  and  of  his  successor  Leo  X.,  in  whose  reign  it  was 
subject  to  Francis  I.  of  France  from  1515  to  1521.  Under  Leo  X. 
the  celebrated  historian  Francesco  Guicciardini  was  Govematore  of 
Parma. 

In  the  papal  period  of  the  Cinquecento,  the  beautiful  church  of  La 
Madonna  della  Steccata  was  built,  the  interior  of  S.Giovanni  was  rebuilt, 
and  one  of  the  most  remarkable  painters  of  the  best  Italian  period, 
Antonio  Allegri  of  Correggio,  executed  his  masterpieces.  In  1503 
Francesco  Mazzola  was  born  at  Parma,  and  became  celebrated  as  a 
painter  under  the  name  of  Parmigianino.  He  was  chiefly  remarkable 
for  his  portraits. 

Clement  VII.  was  succeeded  by  Alessandro  Famese  as  Paul  III. 
(1534),  who  in  1509  had  been  Bishop  of  Parma.  In  his  care  for  his 
family,  he  procured  for  Pier  Luigi  Famese,  in  154S,  the  investiture  of 
Parma  and  Piacenza,  which  had  been  formed  into  duchies.  Eight  Dukes 
of  the  Famese  family  succeeded  one  another.  Pier  Luigi  died  the  death 
of  a  tyrant  at  Piacenza,  September  11,  1547.  His  grandson  Alessandro 
(the  ''  Eroe  di  Casa  Farnese  "),  won  for  himself  as  Governor  of  Flan- 
ders the  title  of  "  II  Grande  :"  he  died  from  a  bullet- wound  in  1502. 
An  equestrian  statue  was  raised  to  his  honour  in  the  principal  piazza. 
His  son  Ranuccio  I.  was  superstitious  but  magnificent :  he  built  (1597) 
the  Pilotta  palace,  and  (1613)  the  Teatro  Farnese.  Under  the  youthful 
Odoardo  Farnese,  Parma  engaged  in  a  contest  with  the  Roman  Bar- 
berini  (1622)  for  the  possession  of  Castro  and  Ronciglione.  This  war 
was  continued  and  the  disputed  towns  lost  under  the  next  Prince 
Ranuccio  1 1.  He  had  no  male  heirs,  and  died  of  obesity,  which  had 
become  hereditary  in  the  Farnese  family.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
brothers,  Francesco  (1694),  and  Antonio  (1727)  the  last  Famese — 
"  non  men  buono,  enormamente  pingue,  gran  parassita  " — who  died 
childless  in  1731. 

The  Austrians  besieged  Parma  in  behalf  of  the  nephew  of  the  Farnese, 
Don  Carlos,  the  InAint  of  Spain,  son  of  the  Queen  Elisabetta  Farnese. 
When  Don  Carlos  was  proclaimed  King  of  Naples,  he  carried  away  the 
most  valuable  art  treasures  from  Parma  and  presented  them  to  his  new 
capital  (no  pictures — I  Michael  Angelo,  i  Correggio,  8  Raffaelles,  9 
Titians,  &c. ;  27  antique  statues,  including  the  Hercules  and  Flora  ;  39 
ancient  bronzes  ;  the  Tazza  Sardonica  ;  io,cxX)  coins,  and  the  curious 
archives  of  Parma).     In  the  War  of  the  Succession,  the  bloody  tattle  of 


i 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  PARMA.  209 

S.  Pietro  was  fought  under  the  walls  of  Parma,  in  which  the  then  united 
Franco-Sardinians,  "  combattendo  da  leoni,"  defeated  the  Austrians. 
By  the  peace  of  1 728,  Philip  de  Bourbon,  second  son  of  Elisabetta, 
was  made  Lord  of  Parma,  Piacenza,  and  Guastalla  ;  his  minister  was 
the  celebrated  Frenchman  du  Tillot,  who  raised  Parma  to  be  the 
"  Atene  d'  Italia  : "  he  founded  the  Accademia  delle  Belle  Arti,  the 
Library  and  the  Museum,  he  remodelled  the  University,  and  intro- 
duced a  manufactory  of  majolica,  silk  cultivation,  and  agricultural  in- 
stitutions. Don  Ferdinando  (1765),  brought  up  by  the  celebrated 
Condillac  (who  wrote  philosophical  books  for  him),  was  a  good- 
natured  and  popular  prince.  Du  Tillot  ruled  under  him  till  1791, 
when,  having  become  an  object  of  suspicion  to  the  Austrian  court, 
because  he  tried  to  win  the  hand  of  Beatrice  d'Este  for  his  master  (she 
was  afterwards  given  to  an  archduke,  while  Ferdinando  married  an 
archduchess),  he  was  deposed,  banished,  and  died  in  poverty  in  France. 
On  October  8,  1802,  the  duke  was  poisoned  at  the  Badia  di  Fonterivo, 
and  the  duchies  were  declared  by  Tuscany  to  be  incorporated  with  the 
French  Republic.  At  the  Vienna  congress,  the  Empress  Maria  Louisa 
obtained  Parma,  Piacenza,  and  Guastalla  "  in  plena  proprieta  e 
sovranita."  She  died  in  1847,  and  is  still  remembered  with  affection. 
She  was  followed  by  the  last  of  the  Bourbons,  Charles  IL,  and  (after 
the  revolution  of  1843  ^^^  ^^e  intermediate  reign  of  Charles  Albert, 
1848 — 1849)  by  Charles  IIL  till  1854,  when  he  was  murdered  in  the 
Strada  S.  Lucia.  His  widow,  a  wise  and  popular  princess,  was  driven 
out  to  make  way  for  the  government  of  Victor  Emmanuel  in  1856, 
since  which  Parma  has  sunk  to  the  condition  of  a  third-rate  provincial 
city. 

Parma  well  deserves  a  halt  from  the  traveller.  It  is  an 
old  University  city,  has  sixty  churches  and  a  fine  cathedral, 
and  many  palaces  richly  adorned  with  the  beautifiil  terra- 
cotta ornamentation. 

"  Parma  is  perhaps  the  brightest  Residenzstadt  of  the  second  class  in 
Italy,  Built  on  a  sunny  and  fertile  tract  of  the  Lombard  plain,  within 
view  of  the  Alps,  and  close  beneath  the  shelter  of  the  Apennines,  it 
shines  like  a  well-set  gem,  with  stately  towers  and  cheerful  squares 
in  the  midst  of  verdure.  The  cities  of  Lombardy  are  all  like  large 
country-houses  ;  walking  out  of  their  gates,  you  seem  to  be  stepping 
from  a  door  or  window  that  opens  on  a  trim  and  beautiful  garden,  where 
mulberry-tree  is  married  to  mulberry  by  festoons  of  vines,  and  where 

VOL.  II.  14 


2IO  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

the  maize  and  sunflowers  stand  together  in  rows  between  patches  of  flax 
and  hemp." — J.  A.  Symonds. 

Besides  its  architectural  attractions,  Parma  is  filled  with 
the  masterpieces  of  Antonio  Allegri  (1494— 1534)  called 
Correggio  from  his  birthplace,  and  of  those  of  his  scholars  ; 
his  son  Pomponio  Allegri,  Bernardino  Gatti,  Francesco 
Rondani,  Michael-Angelo  Anselmi,  and  the  Mazzolas  — 
Girolamo,  and  Francesco,  who  was  called  Parmigianino. 
Vasari  speaks  of  Correggio  as  the  "  Pittore  singularissimo," 
and  he  is  generally  included  in  the  circle  of  the  five  greatest 
masters,  with  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Michael  Angelo,  Rafifaelle, 
and  Titian. 

"  Inwardly  as  little  under  the  influence  of  any  ecclesiastical  traditions 
as  Michelangelo,  Correggio  never  sees  in  his  art  anything  but  the 
means  of  making  his  representation  of  life  as  sensuously  charming  and 
as  sensuously  real  as  possible.  His  gifts  in  this  direction  were  great ; 
in  all  that  assists  realisation  he  is  an  originator  and  discoverer,  even 
when  compared  with  Leonardo  and  Titian.  ...  In  the  works  of 
Correggjo,  there  is  an  entire  absence  of  any  moral  elevation,  but  he  is 
the  first  to  represent  entirely  and  completely  the  reality  of  genuine 
nature.  He  fascinates  the  beholder,  not  by  this  or  that  beautiful  and 
sensual  form,  but  by  convincing  him  entirely  of  the  actual  existence  of 
these  forms,  by  means  of  perfectly  realistic  representations  (enhanced  by 
concealed  means  of  attraction)  of  space  and  light.  Among  his  means 
of  representation,  his  chiaroscuro  is  proverbially  famous.  In  Corre^o 
first  chiaroscuro  becomes  essential  to  the  general  expression  of  a  pic- 
torially  combined  whole  :  the  stream  of  light  and  reflection  gives  exactly 
the  right  expression  to  the  special  moment  in  nature.  Besides  this, 
Correggio  was  the  first  to  reveal  the  charm  of  the  surface  of  the  human 
body  in  half-light  and  reflected  light. 

His  colour  is  perfect  in  the  flesh  tints,  and  kid  on  in  a  way  that 
indicates  infinite  study  of  the  appearance  in  air  and  light.  In  the  defi- 
nition of  other  materials  he  does  not  go  into  detail ;  the  harmony  of  the 
whole,  the  euphony  of  the  transitions,  is  his  chief  object.  But  the  most 
striking  point  of  his  style  is  the  complete  expression  of  motion  in  his 
figures,  without  which  there  is  for  him  no  life  and  no  complete  repre- 
sentation of  space,  which  can  properly  only  be  measured  by  the  eye. 


PIAZZA    GRANDE.  2ii 

The  real  measure  of  his  performance  is  in  the  human  form  in  motion, 
with  indeed  an  entire  appearance  of  reality,  and  in  some  circumstances 
violently  foreshortened.  He  first  gives  to  the  glories  of  the  other  world 
a  cubically  measurable  space,  which  he  fills  with  powerful  floating 
forms.  This  motion  is  nothing  merely  external ;  it  interpenetrates  the 
figures  from  within  outwards.  Correggio  divines,  knows,  and  paints 
the  finest  movements  of  nervous  life.  Of  grandeur  of  lines,  of  severe 
architectonic  composition,  there  is  no  question  with  him,  nor  of  grand 
free  beauty.  What  is  sensuously  charming  he  gives  in  abundance. 
Here  and  there  he  shows  real  depth  of  feeling,  which,  beginning  with 
the  real,  reveals  great  spiritual  secrets  :  there  are  pictures  of  suffering 
by  him,  which  are  not  indeed  grand,  but  perfectly  noble,  touching,  and 
executed  with  infinite  intelligence." — J.  Burckhardt. 

All  the  principal  sights  of  Parma  may  be  taken  in  one 
circuit,  starting  from  the  Piazza  Grande,  close  to  which  is 
the  principal  hotel. 

The  Piazza  Grande  is  picturesque,  and  generally  crowded 
with  countrymen  in  their  bro\vn  cloaks,  and  countrywomen 
in  red  shawls  and  hoods.  It  has  a  Clock  tower  on  one  side  ; 
on  the  other  is  a  fine  old  brick  palace  with  arcades,  in  fi-ont  of 
which  stands  a  modem  statue  of  Correggio,  who  seems  strange 
under  his  real  name  of  Antonio  AUegri.  On  the  other  side 
of  the  palace  is  a  fine  bronze  group  of  wrestlers,  crowning 
a  fountain.  The  Via  Emilia  nms  through  the  square,  and 
divides  the  city  almost  equally.  Following  it,  by  the  Strada 
Maestro  di  S.  Michele,  architects  will  linger  at  the  comer  of 
a  neighbouring  alley  on  the  right,  to  admire  an  exquisite 
terra-cotta  shrine,  and  further  on  at  the  Collegio  Lalatta, 
which  has  a  grand  entrance,  supported  by  giants.  Artists 
will  proceed  to  S.  Sepolcro,  the  last  church  on  the  right,  to 
see  a  Parmigianino  (in  the  first  chapel  on  the  right,)  if  they 
can  get  in,  which  is  not  very  likely. 

The  street  close  to  S.  Antonio,  on  the  left  of  the  Strada 
S.  Michele,    leads    to    the   Cathedral,   and    the  view  on 


212  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

approaching  it  thus,  from  behind,  is  far  the  most  effective. 
The  outline  is  greatly  varied.  The  apses  and  cupola  are 
decorated  by  delicate  Romanesque  arcades  all  glowing  with 
rosy  colour,  and  beyond  rises  the  soaring  campanile,  with 
its  slender  arches  and  its  low  spire  crowned  by  a  golden 
angel.  Behind,  in  the  shadow,  lies  the  Baptistery.  This 
quiet  square,  with  its  ancient  surroundings,  has  a  look 
of  repose  almost  like  that  of  an  English  close ;  but  the 
buildings  are  embossed  on  a  pellucid  sky,  such  as  one  sees 
in  the  pictures  of  Perugino. 

Behind  the  cathedral  stands  the  grand  Renaissance 
Church  of  S.  Giovanni  Evangelistay  hviilt  in  15  lo  by  Ber- 
nardino Zaccagni  da  Torrechiara.  The  front,  of  1604,  is 
by  Simone  Moschino  da  Orvieto.  It  is  adorned  with  great 
statues  of  S.  John  and  various  Benedictine  saints,  and  sur- 
mounted by  the  bronze  eagle  of  the  Evangelist. 

Inside,  this  church  is  really  sublime  in  its  proportions, 
and  is  rendered  more  effective  by  the  rich  dark  colouring  of 
the  arabesques  by  Anselmi,  on  the  vaulting  of  the  ceiling. 
Here,  the  frescoes  are  in  complete  harmony  with,  and  seem 
part  of  the  building.  In  the  cupola  are  famous  frescoes  of 
Correggio  (painted  1520 — 24),  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  see 
them,  and  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  understand  these  and 
many  other  of  Correggio's  frescoes,  unless  prepared  by  a 
careful  study  of  the  beautiful  copies  by  Toschi  and  his 
pupils  in  the  Accademia. 

"This  is  the  first  dome  devoted  to  a  great  general  composition; 
Christ  in  glory,  surrounded  by  the  Apostles  sitting  upon  clouds,  all 
introduced  as  the  Vision  of  John,  seated  on  the  edge  below.  The 
Apostles  are  genuine  Lombards  of  the  noble  type,  of  a  grandiose  physical 
form  ;  the  old  ecstatic  John  (purposely  ?j  less  noble.     The  view  from 


S.   GIOVANNI  EVANGELISTA.  213 

below,  completely  carried  out,  of  which  this  is  the  earliest  preserved 
instance,  and  certainly  the  earliest  so  thoroughly  carried  through, 
appeared  to  contemporaries  and  followers  a  triumph  of  all  painting. 
They  forgot  what  parts  of  the  human  body  were  most  prominent  in  a 
view  from  below,  while  the  subject  of  this  and  most  later  dome  paint- 
ings, the  glory  of  heaven,  would  only  bear  what  had  most  spiritual  life. 
They  did  not  perceive  that  for  such  a  subject  the  realisation  of  the 
locality  is  unworthy,  and  that  only  ideal  architectonic  composition  can 
awaken  a  feeling  at  all  in  harmony  with  this.  Now  here  the  impression 
is  certainly  overpowering  :  the  confused  group  of  numberless  angels, 
who  here,  rushing  towards  each  other  with  the  greatest  passion,  and 
embracing,  is  without  example  in  art :  whether  this  is  the  noblest  conse- 
cration of  the  events  represented  is  another  question.  If  so,  then  the 
confusion  of  arms  and  legs  was  not  to  be  avoided  ;  if  the  scene  were 
real,  it  must  have  been  something  like  this.  Farther  below,  between  the 
windows,  stand  the  Apostles  gazing  after  the  Virgin  ;  behind  them,  on 
a  parapet,  are  Genii  busy  with  candelabra  and  censers.  In  the  Apostles, 
Correggio  is  not  logical ;  no  one  so  excited  as  they  are  could  stand  still 
in  his  comer  ;  even  their  supposed  grandeur  has  something  unreal  about 
it.  But  some  of  the  Genii  are  quite  wonderfully  beautiful ;  also  many 
of  the  angels  in  the  paintings  of  the  cupola  itself,  and  especially  those 
which  hover  round  the  four  patron  saints  of  Parma,  on  the  pendentives. 
It  is  difficult  to  analyse  exactly  the  sort  of  intoxication  with  which  these 
figures  fill  the  senses.  I  think  that  the  divine  and  the  very  earthly  are 
here  closely  combined." — Burckhardt. 

"It  must  be  evident  that  gradations  in  magnitude  will  be  more  fall 
and  varied  when  they  comprehend,  if  only  in  a  limited  degree,  the  per- 
spective diminution  of  forms.  In  the  cupola  of  Parma  (to  say  nothing 
of  the  objects  being  represented  as  if  above  the  eye)  the  perspective 
diminution  is  extreme ;  so  that  even  the  principal  figures  are  altogether 
subservient  to  the  expression  of  space." — Eastlake. 

"  As  a  consequence  of  his  predilection  for  sensuous  and  voluptuous 
forms,  Correggio  had  no  power  of  imagining  grandly  or  severely.  His 
Apostles,  gazing  after  the  Virgin  who  has  left  the  eartii,  are  thrown 
into  attitudes  so  violent  and  so  dramatically  foreshortened,  that  seen 
from  below  upon  the  pavement  of  the  Cathedral,  very  little  of  their  form 
is  distinguishable,  except  legs  and  arms  in  violent  commotion.  .  .  . 
Correggio  appears  to  have  been  satisfied  with  realising  the  tumult  of 
heaven  rushing  to  meet  earth,  and  earth  straining  upwards  to  ascend  to 
heaven  in  violent  commotion — a  very  orgasm  of  frenetic  rapture.  The 
essence  of  the  event  is  forgotten  ;  its  external  manifestation  alone  is 
presented  to  the  eye  ;  and  only  the  accessories  of  beardless  angels  and 


214  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

cloud-encumbered  cherubs  are  really  beautiful  amid  a  surge  of  limbs  in 
restless  movement." — y.  A.  Symonds. 

The  paintings  on  the  ceiUng  of  the  choir  are  by  Girol. 
Mazzola;  those  on  the  sides  of  the  nave  are  by  Latanzio 
Gambara  (1568 — 73);  the  woodwork  of  the  choir  is  by 
Christofero  da  Lendinara  \  the  Ciborium,  of  1484,  is  hy  Leon 
Battista  Alberti, 

The  pictures  are : — 

Choir.     Parmigianino,     The  Transfiguration. 

Left  Transept.  * Correggio.  (Over  the  door.)  A  beautiful  fresco  of 
S.  John  the  Evangelist  writing  his  Gospel.  He  is  seated,  pausing  with 
his  hand  on  his  book,  and  looking  up  for  inspiration. 

Left  Aisle,  6th  Cliapel    Anselmi,     Christ  bearing  his  cross. 

tifth  Chapel.  Girol.  Mazzola.  The  Virgin  gives  a  palm  branch  to 
S.  Catherine  ;  S.  Nicholas  stands  by. 

\st  and  2nd  Chapels.  Parmigianino.  The  saints  and  cherubs  on 
the  arches,  very  grand,  but  ill  seen. 

The  Campanile  oi  the  church,  built  in  16 14,  is  exceed- 
ingly handsome.  The  adjoining  Mofiastery  (now  a  barrack) 
has  stately  cloisters  and  corridors. 

It  is  well  that  S.  Giovanni  should  be  seen  before  the 
Duomo,  after  which  it  pales.  The  latter  is  a  Latin  cross, 
7019  met  long  by  2565  met.  broad.  The  west  front  is 
magnificent.  It  had  three  porches,  but  of  the  two  side 
porches  only  the  monsters  which  supported  the  pillars 
remain.  The  central  porch  rests  on  two  huge  lions  of  red 
Verona  marble,  one  with  a  ram,  the  other  with  a  serpent  \ 
it  is  the  work  of  Bono  da  Bisone  {12S1).  In  the  upper 
story  is  the  pulpit  whence  the  bishop  gives  the  papal  bless- 
ing to  the  people.  A  chapel  on  the  north  side  should  be 
observed  for  its  exquisite  terra-cotta  ornaments,  especially 
the  vine-leaves  and  grapes  round  the  windows. 


CATHEDRAL   OF  PARMA.  215 

The  Interior  is  one  mass  of  beautiful  decaying  colour. 
The  walls  are  almost  entirely  covered  with  precious  frescoes 
of  Correggio  and  his  scholars.  In  general  effectiveness  this 
church  can  scarcely  be  surpassed.  The  nave  is  compara- 
tively dark,  only  lighted  by  such  rays  as  steal  in  through  the 
side  chapels  and  by  a  tiny  line  of  windows  in  the  triforum ; 
but  beyond,  where  a  mighty  staircase  leads  up  into  the 
choir,  a  whole  mass  of  sunlight  glory  pours  in  from  the 
cupola  and  transepts,  and  strikes  upon  the  altar,  and  the 
golden  baldacchino  and  organ  galleries.  The  frescoes, 
especially  of  the  cupola,  are  almost  impossible  to  decipher 
without  a  previous  acquaintance  through  the  drawings  of 
Toschi.  Little  can  be  seen  of  the  Assumption  of  the 
Virgin,  and  the  spectator  is  inclined  to  agree  with  the  criti- 
cism of  one  of  the  canons  to  the  painter,  that  it  is  un 
guazzeto  di  ra?it,  "  a  hash  of  frogs." 

"  In  1526 — 30,  in  the  dome  of  the  cathedral,  Correggio  gave  himself 
up  altogether,  without  any  limit,  to  his  special  conception  of  the  super- 
natural. He  makes  everything  external  and  desecrates  it.  In  the 
centre,  now  much  injured,  Christ  precipitates  himself  towards  the 
Virgin,  who  is  surrounded  with  a  rushing  crowd  of  angels  and  a  mass 
of  clouds.  The  chief  figure,  Christ,  is  foreshortened  in  a  truly  froglike 
manner,  and  with  some  of  the  apostles  the  knees  reach  quite  up  to  their 
necks.  Clouds,  which  Correggio  treats  as  solid  round  bodies  of  definite 
volume,  are  employed  to  define  the  locality,  also  as  means  of  support 
and  as  seats,  and  pictorially  as  means  of  gradation  and  variety.  Even 
on  the  pendentives  of  the  cupola  are  seated  figures,  very  beautiful  in 
themselves,  but  exaggeratedly  foreshortened  ;  an  evangelist  and  a  Father 
of  the  Church  on  clouds,  where  Michael  Angelo  in  a  similar  place 
would  have  given  his  prophets  and  sibyls  solid  thrones." — Burckhardt. 

In  each  of  the  angles  of  the  cupola  is  an  Evangelist  with 
a  Father  of  the  Church ;  Luke  with  Ambrose ;  Matthew 
with  Jerome  \  John  with  Augustine ;  Mark  with  Gregory. 


2i6  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

In  the  frieze  are  the  symbols  of  the  Evangelists  with 
garlands  and  ornaments  like  those  on  ancient  reliefs. 
Making  the  circuit  of  the  church  : — 

Right  Aisle,  2nd  Chapel.     F.    Francia.     The   Virgin  Mother  adores 

her  Child — a  shepherd  stretches  out  his  hands  in  ecstacy. 
3r^  Chapel  (Cappella  Baiardi). 

An  interesting  example  of  early  sculpture  in  the  masterpiece  of 
Antelami  da  Parma,  of  the  I2th  century,  originally  intended  for  the 
pulpit. 

"  In  this  alto-relief,  the  body  of  our  Lord,  which  Nicodemus  mounts 
upon  a  ladder  to  detach  from  the  cross,  is  sustained  by  Joseph  of  Arima- 
thea,  while  an  angel  above  the  Virgin  (who  forms  one  of  a  procession 
of  mourners)  aids  her  in  holding  up  his  left  arm.  In  a  similar  position, 
upon  the  other  side  of  the  composition,  appears  the  archangel  Raphael, 
above  a  soldier,  who  threatens  with  his  hand  a  reluctant  priest,  whom 
the  Divine  messenger  is  pushing  forward  to  the  foot  of  the  cross,  and 
who,  we  imagine,  from  the  word  '  synagoga,'  inscribed  above  his  head, 
typifies  the  stiff-necked  Jews.  It  would  be  easy  to  criticize  this  compo- 
sition (if  such  it  may  be  called),  but  if  we  bear  in  mind  the  period 
when  it  was  sculptured,  we  shall  recognize  the  artist's  superior  capacity 
for  expression  above  his  contemporaries,  and  shall  feel  inclined  to  pardon 
these  defects." — Perkin's  Tuscan  Sculptors. 

6th  Chapel.  A  monument  to  Petrarch,  once,  as  he  quite  accurately  de- 
scribed himself,  the  "  inutile  Arcidiacono  "  of  this  cathedral,  put  up 
by  Canon  Cicognari  in  1713.  Here  also  is  a  Christ  bearing  his  cross, 
by  Bernardino  Gatti. 

Left  Aisle,  $th  Chapel.  Frescoes  of  the  fifteenth  century,  by  Loschi 
and  Grossi.  The  west  window  has  some  remains  of  fine  stained  glass 
of  1574,  by  Gondrate. 

The  stately  Crypt  is  supported  by  thirty  pillars,  with  varied 
capitals.  The  services  held  here,  especially  funeral  services, 
are  very  effective.  The  tomb  of  Bartolommeo  Prato  (1542), 
with  two  weeping  figures  and  beautiful  arabesques,  is  by 
Prospero  Clementi. 

The  Baptistery  (the  keys  are  kept  in  the  house  opposite 
the  south  door,)  is  built  of  red  and  grey  marble,  and  sur- 


BAPTISTERY,   MADONNA   BELLA   S  TEC  CAT  A.        217 

rounded  by  four  tiers  of  small  columns,  with  flat  entabla- 
tures, which  give  it  a  harsh  look.  Encircling  the  lower 
story  is  a  frieze  of  animals  and  human-headed  monsters  in 
square  frames.  There  are  pinnacles  at  the  angles  resting 
on  small  pointed  arches.  The  three  portals  are  richly 
sculptured.  On  the  north  door  is  inscribed  :  "  Bis  binis 
demptis  annis  de  mille  ducentis  incepit  dictus  opus  hoc 
sculptor  Benedictus."  This  was  Benedetto  Antelami,  who 
began  the  work  in  1196,  but  it  was  not  finished  till  1281. 

"A  lunette  over  the  south  door  shows  the  mystical  tendencies  of 
Antelami.  It  represents  a  youth  seated  in  the  branches  of  a  tree,  so 
absorbed  in  eating  a  honeycomb,  that,  hke  a  man  who  forgets  tlie  future 
in  present  enjoyment,  he  does  not  see  a  furious  dragon  watching  him 
from  below." — Perkitis  Italian  Sculptors. 

The  interior  has  sixteen  sides,  from  which  rise  the  ribs 
which  support  the  cupola.  In  the  centre  is  an  octagonal 
font  inscribed  with  the  name  of  its  sculptor,  yohannes 
Fallassonus,  1298.  There  is  another  font  covered  with 
quaint  carving,  which  is  now  used  for  the  baptism  of  all  the 
children  born  in  Parma.  The  whole  is  lighted  by  twenty- 
four  windows  in  the  roof,  which  is  covered  with  paintings  of 
c.  1220.  Those  below  are  by  Niccolh  da  Reggio  and  Barto- 
lino  da  Piacenza  of  the  14th  century. 

The  street  in  front  of  the  cathedral  leads  to  the  Piazza 
di  Corte,  where  are  Palazzo  Ducale,  with  a  modem  front, 
the  Teatro  Nuovo,  and  a  little  beyond,  to  the  left,  the 

Church  of  La  Madonna  della  Steccata,  begun  15  21,  from 
plans  of  Gtov.  Francesco  Zaccagtii,  and  finished  in  1539. 
It  derived  its  name  from  a  palisade  (steccato)  erected  round 
a  popular  painting  of  the  Virgin  upon  a  house-wall,  which 
was  supposed  to  be  miraculous,  and  which  the  church  was 


2i8  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

afterwards  built  to  enclose.  The  interior  is  very  similar  to 
the  Madonna  della  Campagna  of  Piacenza,  a  Greek  cross, 
with  apsides  at  the  four  arms,  at  the  angles  of  which  are 
little  polygonal  chapels,  with  cupolas,  and  in  the  centre  a 
lofty  and  wide  round  cupola.  The  effect  is  very  striking, 
and  the  colour  and  design  most  harmonious.  Over  the 
high  altar  is  a  fresco  of  the  Coronation  of  the  Virgin  by 
M.  A.  Anselmi.  The  paintings  in  chiaroscuro  on  the  arches 
are  by  Parmigianino  (^Francesco  Mazzold):  of  these  the 
Moses  is  the  most  remarkable,  and  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 
mentions  in  confirmation  of  the  impression  it  leaves  upon 
the  mind,  that  Gray  "  had  warmed  his  imagination  with  the 
remembrance  of  this  noble  figure  of  Parmigianino  when  he 
conceived  his  sublime  idea  of  the  indignant  Welsh  bard." 
The  frescoes  of  the  cupola  are  by  Gatti. 

Right  Transept.  A  Pieta  by  Bondoni,  erected  by  tlie  town  in  memorj' 
of  Maria  Louisa. 

Over  the  altar  is  S.  George  by  Francheschini. 

Right,  2nd  Chapel.  A  fine  tomb  of  Count  Guido  da  Correggio,  by 
Barbieri,   1568. 

Leji,  1st  Chapel.  F.  Francia.  Madonna  and  Child,  with  S.  Luke 
and  S.  J.  Baptist — much  injured. 

Left,  2nd  Chapel.  A  beautiful  tomb  of  Sforzino  Sforza  (1523),  son 
of  Francesco  Sforza  IL,  by  Agnate,  and  the  tomb  of  Ottavio  Famese 
(1567),  a  bust,  with  his  sword  and  helmet,  by  Briante, 

Opposite  this  is  the  Church  of  S.  Alessandro,  with  a 
wholly  uninviting  exterior,  but  inside  of  remarkably  good 
classical  architecture.  It  was  built,  1625,  by  Margaret  of 
Austria,  from  designs  of  Magnani.  The  Ionic  pillars  are  of 
red  Verona  marble. 

Right,  2nd  Chapel.     Tiarini.     S.  Bertoldo. 

High  Altar.     Parmigianino,     The  Virgin  and  S.  Justina. 


TEATRO  FARNESE.  219 

The  colossal  Palazzo  Farnese,  commonly  called  La 
Pilotta,  stands  behind  the  modern  Ducal  Palace.  It  was 
begun  by  Ranuccio  Farnese  I.,  in  1597.  Its  courtyard  is 
handsome.  The  immense  brick  buildings  include  Palace, 
Academy,  Archceological  Museum,  Picture  Gallery,  Library, 
and  the  Farnese  Theatre.  Crossing  the  court,  on  the  left 
of  the  second  gate  which  leads  to  the  bridge,  is  a  staircase, 
on  the  first  landing  of  which  we  reach  the 

ArchcBological  Museuf?!,  founded  by  Duke  Philip,  c.  1760. 
It  is  chiefly  interesting  from  the  relics  of  the  neighbouring 
Roman  town  of  Velleja. 

The  2nd  Room  contains  the  Tabula  Alimentaria  of  Trajan— his  decree 
for  the  maintenance  of  poor  children,  engraved  upon  bronze.  The 
giving  of  this  charity  is  represented  on  reliefs  lately  discovered  in  the 
Roman  forum.  Here  is  a  statue  of  Germanicus,  and  a  small  bronze 
statuette  of  the  Drunken  Hercules — full  of  character,  from  Velleja. 

4//i  Room.  Statues  of  Livia  and  Agrippina  the  elder  from  Velleja, 
and  a  statuette  of  Leda  and  the  Swan  from  the  Roman  Theatre  of 
Parma,  deserve  notice. 

The  heavy,  richly  ornamented  door  opposite  the  top  of 
the  staircase  leads  to  the  Teairo  Farnese,  built  161 8,  and 
opened  in  1628,  on  the  marriage  of  Duke  Odoardo  with 
Princess  Margaret  of  Tuscany.     It  is  well  worth  visiting. 

"  It  is  a  large  wooden  structure,  of  the  horse-shoe  shape  ;  the  lower 
seats  arranged  upon  the  Roman  plan,  but  above  them  great  heavy 
chambers,  rather  than  boxes,  where  the  nobles  sate,  remote,  in  their 
proud  state.  Such  desolation  as  has  fallen  on  this  theatre,  enhanced  in 
the  spectator's  fancy  by  its  gay  intention  and  design,  none  but  worais 
can  be  familiar  with.  A  hundred  and  ten  years  have  passed  since  any 
play  was  acted  here.  The  sky  shines  in  through  the  gashes  in  the  roof; 
the  boxes  are  dropping  down,  wasting  away,  and  only  tenanted  by 
rats  ;  damp  and  mildew  smear  the  faded  colours,  and  make  spectral 
maps  upon  the  panels  ;  lean  rags  are  dangling  down  where  there  were 
gay  festoons  on  the  proscenium  ;  the  stage  has  rotted  so,  that  a  narrow 


220  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

wooden  gallery  is  thrown  across  it,  or  it  would  sink  beneath  the  tread, 
and  bury  the  visitors  in  the  gloomy  depths  beneath.  The  desolation 
and  decay  impress  themselves  on  all  the  senses.  The  air  has  a  moulder- 
ing smell,  and  an  earthy  taste  ;  any  stray  outer  sounds  that  straggle  in 
with  some  lost  sunbeam,  are  muffled  and  heavy  ;  and  the  worm,  the 
maggot,  and  the  rot  have  changed  the  surface  of  the  wood  beneath  the 
touch,  as  time  will  seam  and  roughen  a  smooth  hand.  If  ghosts  ever  act 
plays,  they  act  them  on  this  ghostly  stage." — Dickens. 

Left  of  the  theatre  is  the  entrance  to  the  Picture  Gallery, 
open  from  9  to  4  (on  festas  from  10  to  2).  There  is 
no  catalogue  and  no  special  arrangement  of  the  pictures. 
The  greater  part  of  the  collection  occupies  one  great 
gallery,  divided  at  intervals,  which  count  as  so  many  cham- 
bers (11.  to  VI).  The  7th  room  is  entered  from  the  oval  in 
the  middle  of  the  gallery  and  leads  to  a  number  of  small 
chambers  which  surround  a  courtyard.  The  pictures  are 
not  hung  as  they  are  numbered.*    We  should  notice 

Room  II. 

38.  Jacopo  Loschi  (1471).     Virgin  throned,  with  angels. 

50.  Cristofero  Caselli,  detto  II  Temporello  (1499).  Virgin  and  Child 
with  S.  J.  Baptist  and  S.  Paul  the  Hermit. 

47.  Pierilario  Mazzola  (1538).     Virgin  and  Child  with  saints. 

45.  Alessandro  Araldi  (1465).     Annunciation. 

4^..  Parmigianino.     Marriage  of  the  Virgin. 

35.  Mich.  Ang.  Anselmi  (i/^gi  —  lSS^)-  Virgin  and  Child  in  glory 
with  saints. 

31.*  Correggiv.  La  Madonna  della  Scala.  A  fresco  originally  on 
the  wall  of  a  chapel  near  the  Porta  Romana.  It  takes  its  name  from 
the  ladder  introduced  in  the  background. 

30.  Girolamo  Mazzola  (1503 — 68).  Virgin  and  Child,  with  angels,  in 
a  grove  of  flowers,  S.  John  asleep  in  the  foreground.  A  very  lovely 
and  original  picture. 

27,  28,  79,  80,  81.   Gir.  Mazzola.  Five  life-size  figures  of  saints. 

76.  Parmigianino  (Francesco  Mazzola,  1503 — 40).  Virgin  and  Child 
with  S.  Jerome  and  S.  Benedict.     A  most  beautiful  picture. 

*  The  order  of  the  hanging  is  followed  here. 


PINACOTECA   OF  PARMA.  321 

68.   Girolamo  Mazzola.  S.  Gregory  and  S.  Augustine. 
6i.  Forhinato  Gatti  (1648).     Virgin  and  Child  with  S.  Bruno  and 
S.  James. 

Roo7n  III.  (the  Oval  Hall)  contains  : 

Two  gigantic  statues  of  basalt  :  on  the  right,  Hercules  ;  on  the  left, 
Bacchus  with  Ampelos  ;  found  in  1724  on  the  Palatine  at  Rome. 

Room  IV. —  VI  (beginning  on  left). 

120.  Bart.  Schidone  {1^60 — 1615).     Entombment. 

122.  Ludavico  da  Parma  (1469 — 1540).  Virgin  with  S.  Catherine 
and  S.  Sebastian. 

123.  F.  Frattcia.     The  Deposition. 

130.*  F.  Francia.  "La  Madonna  di  San  Vitale."  The  Virgin  and 
Child  with  saints.  The  infant  S.  John  points  to  the  throned  group. 
Two  female  saints  adore  ;  Scholastica  holds  a  book,  on  which  her  white 
dove  rests ;  the  Child  turns  to  S.  Catherine.  Two  male  saints,  Bene- 
dict and  Placidus,  seem  to  guard  the  picture  with  their  croziers. 

133.  Schidone.  The  Holy  Women  finding  the  Angel  at  the  Se- 
pulchre. 

134.*  Lodavico  Caracci  (1555 — 1619).  The  Funeral  of  the  Virgin. 
Her  figure,  in  grand  repose,  is  carried  by  the  weeping  Apostles  with 
lighted  torches  ;  the  sweeping-onwards  look  of  the  figures  is  quite  mag- 
nificent. 

158.  Fra  Paolo  da  Pistoia.     Adoration  of  the  Magi. 

203.  Josaphat  Aldis.  S.  Sebastian.  The  arrow  in  the  forehead  is 
unusual. 

188.   Agostino  Caracci  {\^i)% — 1601)  Virgin  and  saints. 

209 — 212.  Agostino  Caracci.  Copies  of  the  frescoes  of  Correggio  at 
S.  Giovanni. 

231.    Tintoret.     The  Entombment. 

"  In  the  gallery  at  Parma  there  is  a  canvas  of  Tintoret's  whose  sub- 
limity of  conception  and  grandeur  of  colour  are  seen  in  the  highest 
perfection,  by  their  opposition  to  the  morbid  and  vulgar  sentimentalism 
of  Correggio.  It  is  an  entombment  of  Christ,  with  a  landscape  dis- 
tance. Dwelling  on  the  peculiar  force  of  the  event  before  him,  as  the 
fulfilment  of  the  final  prophecy  respecting  the  passion,  '  He  made  his 
grave  with  the  wicked  and  with  the  rich  in  his  death,'  Tintoret  desires 
to  direct  the  mind  of  the  spectator  to  the  receiving  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
in  its  contrast  with  the  houseless  birth  and  the  desert  life.  And,  there- 
fore, behind  the  ghastly  tomb  grass  that  shakes  its  black  and  withered 


222  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

blades  above  the  rocks  of  the  sepulchre,  there  is  seen,  not  the  actual 
material  distance  of  the  spot  itself  (though  the  crosses  are  shown  faintly;, 
but  that  to  which  the  thoughtful  spirit  would  return  in  vision,  a  desert 
place,  where  the  foxes  have  holes  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests, 
and  against  the  barred  twilight  of  the  melancholy  sky  are  seen  the 
mouldering  beams  and  shattered  roofing  of  a  ruined  cattle-shed,  the 
canopy  of  the  Nativity." — Ruskin,  ^^  Modern  Painters  "  ii.  164. 

165.  Giiercino.     Virgin  and  Child  with  S.  Francis  and  S.  Chiara. 

166.  Lod.  Caracci.     The  Apostles  at  the  empty  tomb  of  the  Virgin. 
160.  Annibale  Caracci.     The  Dead  Christ  with  saints. 

At  the  end  of  the  gallery  is  a  seated  statue  of  Maria  Louisa  as  Con- 
cord, by  Canova. 

Room  VIII.  (entered  on  right  from  the  Oval  hall). 

297,  303.  Gir.  Mazzola.  Portraits  of  Alessandro  Famese  and  his 
wife. 

300.  Antonio  Mora.     A  portrait. 

312,  314,  315.     Portraits  attributed  to  Velasquez. 

Room   IX.  (hung  with  green  silk,  stamped  with  A  A  in 
honour  of  "  Antonio  Allegri  "). 

350.*  Correggio.  "La  Madonna  della  Scodella."  So  called  from 
the  dish  in  the  hand  of  the  Virgin,  being  the  arms  of  the  Scodellari, 
for  whom  the  picture  was  painted. 

"The  dreamy  lights  in  the  mysterious  wood,  the  charming  heads,  and 
the  indescribable  beauty  of  the  whole  treatment  cause  us  to  forget  that 
this  picture  is  essentially  composed  for  the  colour,  and  is  exceedingly 
indistinct  in  its  motives." — Burckhardt. 

Room  X. 

Drawings  of  Toschi  and  his  pupils  from  the  frescoes  of  Correggio. 
Here  study  the  invisible  cupolas. 

Room  XI. 

351.*  Correggio.  "  La  Madonna  di  San  Girolamo,"  so  called  from 
the  prominent  figure  of  S.  Jerome. 


PINACOTECA   OF  PARMA.  223 

*'  The  astonishing  execution  cannot  outweigh  the  great  material  de- 
ficiencies. The  attitude  of  Jerome  is  affected  and  insecure.  Correggio 
is  never  happy  in  grand  things  :  the  child  who  beckons  to  the  angel 
turning  over  the  book,  and  plays  with  the  hair  of  the  Magdalen,  is 
inconceivably  ugly,  as  also  the  Putto,  who  smells  at  the  vase  of  oint- 
ment of  the  Magdalen.  Only  this  latter  figure  is  inexpressibly  beautiful, 
and  shows,  in  the  way  she  bends  down,  the  highest  sensibility  for  a 
particular  kind  of  female  grace." — Burckhardt. 

Louis  XVIII.  vainly  tempted  Maria  Louisa,  in  her  sorest  poverty,  by 
the  offer  of  a  million  of  francs,  to  allow  this  picture  to  remain  in  the 
Louvre. 

Room  XII.  (by  a  door  in  the  silk  hanging). 
Exquisite  drawings  of  Toschi,  &c.,  after  Correggio. 

Room  XIIL 

360.  •  Cima  da  Conegliano.     Virgin  and  Child  throned  with  saints. 
361.*  Id.  Virgin  and  Child  with  S.  Michael  and 

S.  Andrew. 
362.*  Leonardo  da  Vinci.     A  most  lovely  head. 
352  *  Correggio.     The  Maries  with  the  Dead  Christ. 
253.*        Id.  The  Martyrdom  of  S.  Placidus  and  S.  Flavia. 

Holbein.     Portrait  of  Erasmus. 
*  Fraticia.     Virgin  and  Child  with  S.  John. 
Schidone.     Virgin  and  Child  with  S.  John. 

Room  XIV. 

371.*  Giulio  Romano.  (From  a  dra-wing  by  Raphael,  which  is  at 
the  Louvre  )  Jesus  glorified  between  the  Virgin  and  S.  J.  Baptist  : 
beneath  the  Virgin  stands  S.  Paul,  beneath  the  Baptist  S.  Catherine 
kneels  with  her  wheel. 

367.    Titian.     Head  of  Christ. 

364.    Murillo.     Job. 

378.    Van  der  Heist.     Portrait 

Room  XV. 

Early  fourteenth-century  paintings — not  remarkable  specimens. 


224  italiamV  cities. 

The  Library  (open  from  9  to  3,  entrance  opposite  the 
Picture  Gallery),  contains  the  valuable  Hebrew  and  Syriac 
MSS.  of  De  Rossi,  bought  by  Maria  Louisa  in  1816. 
Amongst  the  curiosities  is  the  "  Livre  d'Heures  "  of  Henri 
n.  of  France,  and  Luther's  Hebrew  Psalter,  with  his 
autograph  notes. 

In  the  2nd  room  is  the  remnant  of  Correggids  fresco  of 
the  Coronation  of  the  Virgin,  brought  hither  from  S.  Gio- 
vanni. 

At  the  Picture  Gallery  we  can  obtain  the  keys  of  the 
famous  Camera  di  S.  Paolo  (on  the  other  side  of  the  Piazza 
Grande,  in  the  Monastery  of  S.  Ludovico).  Here,  in  15 18, 
Correggio,  by  order  of  the  abbess.  Donna  Giovanna  da 
Piacenza,  painted  a  wonderful  chamber,  which  remains  in 
the  most  perfect  preservation.  Over  the  chimney-piece  is  a 
fresco  of  the  abbess  herself  as  Diana,  being,  as  it  were,  the 
goddess  of  an  enchanted  bower,  for  from  all  the  coves  of 
the  ceiling  lovely  groups  of  cupids  are  looking  out  from  a 
mass  of  leaves  and  flowers.  Beneath  are  chiaroscuro  repre- 
sentations of  mythological  subjects. 

"That  which  sharply  distinguished  Correggio  from  all  previous 
artists,  was  the  faculty  of  painting  a  purely  voluptuous  dream  of  beau- 
tiful beings  in  perpetual  movement,  beneath  the  laughter  of  moving 
light,  in  a  world  of  never-failing  April  hues.  When  he  attempts  to 
depart  from  the  fairyland  of  which  he  was  the  Prospero,  and  to  match 
himself  with  the  masters  of  sublime  thought  or  earnest  passion,  he 
proves  his  weakness.  But  within  his  own  magic  circle  he  reigns 
supreme,  no  other  artist  having  blended  the  witcheries  of  colouring, 
chiaroscuro,  and  faun-like  loveliness  of  form  into  a  harmony  so  perfect 
in  its  sensuous  charm."    J.  A.  Symonds. 

An  inner  chamber  has  frescoes  by  Alessandro  AraldL 
Over  its  chimney  are  three  crescent  moons,  the  arms  of  the 
abbess. 


I 


PALAZZO  DEL   GIARDINO.  225 

Through  the  Palazzo  Pilotta,  by  the  bridge  called  Ponte 
Verde,  with  its  old  gate-towers,  we  may  reach  the  Palazzo 
del  Giardino,  built  originally  by  Ottavio  Farnese,  but  altered 
in  1767.  In  one  of  its  rooms  are  unfinished  frescoes  by 
Agostino  Caracci.  This  was  the  favourite  residence  of  the 
late  excellent  Duchess  Regent  of  Parma,  with  whose 
departure  the  prosperity  of  the  town  departed.  The 
gardens,  always  open,  but  little  used,  are  laid  out  with 
cUpped  hedges  and  formal  tanks  of  water.  In  summer, 
birds  sing  undisturbed  all  the  day  long  amid  the  tall  trees 
in  the  park,  which  are  allowed  to  grow  as  they  will.  We 
may  return  to  the  town  by  the  neighbouring  Strada  Maestra 
di  S.  Croce,  which  contains  a  hospital  founded  by  Maria 
Louisa,  and  the  Church  of  the  Amiunztala,  in  which  are  the 
remains  of  a  fresco  of  the  Annunciation  by  Correggio.  We 
cross  the  Parma  torrent  by  the  bridge  called  Ponte  del 
Mezzo,  which  has  a  chapel  built  by  Pier  Luigi  Farnese  to 
S.  John  Nepomuk  in  1517.  Higher  up  the  river  we  see  the 
Ponte  di  Caprazucca,  built  1280,  and  restored  in  the  15th 
century.  The  other  churches  of  Parma  are  of  little  interest. 
Several  of  them  contain  pictmes  by  Girolamo  and  Ales- 
sandro  Mazzola. 


Parma  is  the  best  point  from  whence  to  make  the  very 
important  excursion  to  the  fortress  of  the  Countess  Matilda 
at  Canossa,  where  the  Emperor  Henry  IV.  performed  his 
famous  penance.  Canossa  is  distant  1 8  Italian  miles  from 
Parma,  and  15  from  Reggio.  The  station  of  S.  Ilario 
is  a  few  miles  nearer,  but  there  are  no  carriages  there.  A 
carriage  from  Parma  to  Seano,  the  nearest  practicable  point, 
VOL.  II.  15 


226  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

costs  20  frs.  Very  little,  however,  is  remembered  about 
Canossa  in  any  of  the  neighbouring  towns.  The  writer 
found  it  necessary  to  send  to  the  University  to  find  out 
where  it  was,  and  then  the  answer  was  that  the  professors 
knew  nothing  about  it,  unless  it  was  the  same  as  "  II 
Castello   di  Donna  Matilda." 

The  road  lies  through  a  dull  plain,  and,  after  crossing  the 
wide,  stony  bed  of  the  Enza  by  a  long  bridge,  ascends  by 
the  side  of  the  torrent  from  S.  Ilario  to  Montecchio,  where 
Attendolo  Sforza  was  bom.  Hence,  it  passes  through 
S.  Polo  to  the  foot  of  the  Apennines,  on  which  several 
castles  may  be  distinguished,  the  most  conspicuous  being 
that  of  Rusina,  a  castle  whose  aspect  would  delight  Robert 
Browning,  who  says  : — 

"  What  I  love  best  in  all  the  world 
Is  a  castle,  precipice  encurl'd, 
In  a  gash  of  wind-grieved  Apennine." 

At  Seano  it  is  best  to  take  a  guide  for  the  day  (4  frs.), 
otherwise  it  will  be  impossible  to  find  the  way.  The  savage 
ascent  begins  immediately  behind  the  village,  grassless,  tree- 
less, even  weedless.  There  is  no  path  whatever,  and  only 
sometimes  something  which  passes  for  it  in  the  furrows  riven 
by  the  melted  snow.  At  the  end  of  April  there  were  great 
patches  of  snow  itself,  apparently  level,  but  into  which 
one  sank  knee-deep  in  crossing  the  hollows.  At  the 
top  of  the  first  ascent,  rising  from  blackened  excoriated 
rocks,  is  the  fortress  of  Rusina,  with  a  solitary  tower, 
known  as  Castel  d'Asso,  on  a  second  eminence,  and  a  little 
village  nestling  between  the  two,  in  the  dreariest  position 
that  can  be  imagined — an  eternal  winter,  with  scarcely  a 


CANOSSA. 


227 


blade  of  vegetation  to  look  upon.  Further  on,  the  county 
becomes  wilder  still.  Beyond  the  range  on  which  we  stand, 
rise  a  forest  of  snowy  Apennine  peaks,  but  they  look  cheerful 
by  comparison  with  the  nearer  hills,  which  are  riven  and  fur- 
rowed by  volcanic  action  like  those  near  Radicofani,  every 
inch  of  the  ground  being  twisted  and  tossed  and  contorted 
into  the  most  hideous  chaos  of  crevasses,  a  Mer  de  Glace 
repeated  in  all  the  frightfulness  of  hardened  brown  mud. 
We  wind  along  a  ridge,  looking  down  upon  an  avenue  of 
ghastly  abysses,  in  which  foxes  are  the  sole  inhabitants. 
Where  the  valley  opens,  we  see  the  stony  bed  of  the  Enza, 
and  across  the  hills  on  the  other  side  of  it,  the  white  line  of 
the  Po.  On  the  further  side  of  the  mud  valley  of  desola- 
tion is  a  distorted  hill  apparently  of  stronger  material  than 
the  rest,  supporting  some  solid  buttresses  of  rock,  and  from 
these,  looking  like  rocks  themselves,  from  the  equality  with 
which  Time  has  bestowed  her  colouring  upon  both,  rise 


View  from  Canossa. 

some  shapeless  fragments  of  broken  castle  walls.     That  is 
Canossa. 

It  is  a  most  impregnable-looking  place.     No  road  can 


228 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


ever  have  approached  it.  It  must  always  have  had  its 
present  hideous  aspect,  as  if  utterly  abandoned  by  Nature. 
At  first  the  rock  walls  seem  utterly  to  cut  it  off  from  ail 
human  access,  no  path  is  apparently  possible,  and  its  plat- 
form appears  to  be  without  an  entrance.  But,  on  coming 
close,  a  thread- like  way  discovers  itself  where  a  single  per- 
son can  but  just  pass,  the  only  way  which  ever  existed  here, 
and  which  struggles  up  through  the  great  grey  stones  and  the 
withered  brambles,  till,  close  to  the  top,  it  widens  a  little 
where  the  castle  well,  the  least  ruined  thing  in  this  chaotic 
overthrow,  still  pierces  the  ground  under  a  stone  mouth, 


Gale  of  the  Penance,  Canossa. 


and  where  an  arched  gate  remains  in  the  mouldering  and 
broken  wall.  It  is  the  gate  where  the  great  Emperor  sate 
shivering,  fasting,  and  wailing  for  three  days  and  nights.  I 


CANOSSA.  229 

"  It  was  towards  the  end  of  January.  The  earth  was  covered  with 
snow,  and  the  mountain  streams  were  arrested  by  the  keen  frost  of  the 
Apennines,  when,  clad  in  the  thin  penitential  garment  of  white  linen, 
and  bare  of  foot,  Henry,  the  descendant  of  so  many  kings,  and  the 
ruler  of  so  many  nations,  ascended  slowly  and  alone  the  rocky  path 
which  led  to  the  outer  gate  of  the  fortress  of  Canossa.  With  strange 
emotions  of  pity,  of  wonder,  and  of  scorn,  the  assembled  crowd  gazed 
on  his  majestic  form  and  noble  features,  as,  passing  through  the  first 
and  second  gateway,  he  stood  in  the  posture  of  humiliation  before  the 
third,  which  remained  inexorably  closed  against  his  further  progress. 
The  rising  sun  found  him  there  fasting  ;  and  there  the  setting  sun  left 
him  stiff  with  cold,  faint  with  hunger,  and  devoured  by  shame  and  ill- 
suppressed  resentment.  A  second  day  dawned,  and  wore  tardily  away, 
and  closed,  in  a  continuance  of  the  same  indignities,  poured  out  on 
Europe  at  large  in  the  person  of  her  chief,  by  the  Vicar  of  the  meek, 
the  lowly,  and  compassionate  Redeemer.  A  third  day  came,  and  still 
irreverently  trampling  on  the  hereditary  lord  of  the  fairer  half  of  the 
civilised  world,  Hildebfand  once  more  compelled  him  to  prolong  till 
nightfall  this  profane  and  hollow  parody  on  the  real  workings  of  the 
broken  and  contrite  heart. 

"  Nor  was  he  unwarned  of  the  activity  and  the  strength  of  the  indigna- 
tion aroused  by  this  protracted  outrage  on  every  natural  sentiment,  and 
every  honest  principle,  of  mankind.  Lamentations  and  reproaches 
rang  through  the  castle  of  Canossa.  Murmurs  from  Henry's  inveterate 
enemies  and  his  own  zealous  adherents,  upbraided  Gregory  as  exhibiting 
rather  the  cruelty  of  a  tyrant,  than  the  rigour  of  an  apostle.  But  the 
endurance  of  the  sufferer  was  the  only  measure  of  the  inflexibility  of 
the  tormentor ;  nor  was  it  till  the  unhappy  monarch  had  burst  away 
from  the  scene  of  his  mental  and  bodily  anguish,  and  sought  shelter  in 
a  neighbouring  convent,  that  the  Pope,  yielding  at  length  to  the  instances 
of  Matilda,  would  admit  the  degraded  suppliant  into  his  presence.  It 
was  the  fourth  day  on  which  he  had  borne  the  humiliating  garb  of  a 
penitent,  and,  in  that  sordid  raiment  he  drew  near  on  his  bare  feet  to 
the  more  than  imperial  Majesty  of  the  Church,  and  prostrated  himself, 
in  more  than  servile  deference,  before  the  diminutive  and  emaciated  old 
man,  '  from  the  terrible  glance  of  whose  countenance, '  we  are  told, 
'  the  eye  of  every  beholder  recoiled  as  from  the  lightning. '  Hunger, 
cold,  nakedness,  and  shame,  had,  for  the  moment,  crushed  the  gallant 
spirit  of  the  sufferer.  He  wept  and  cried  for  mercy,  again  and  again 
renewing  his  entreaties,  until  he  had  reached  the  lowest  level  of  abase- 
ment to  which  his  over  enfeebled  heart,  or  the  haughtiness  of  his  great 
antagonist,  could  depress  him.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  did  the  Pope 
condescend  to  revoke  the  anathema  of  the  Vatican."— ^/r  J.  Stephens. 


230  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

There  is  no  beauty  in  Canossa,  but  it  is  an  extraordinary 
place  and  well  worth  the  great  trouble  of  getting  there,  for 
in  summer  the  heat  on  the  arid  rocks  must  be  quite  as 
trying  as  the  struggle  through  the  snow  in  winter. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
REGGIO  AND  MODENA. 

IT  is  if  hr.  by  quick  train  (6  frs.  85  c, ;  5  frs.  50  c.)  from 
Parma  to  Modena.     The  country  is  exceedingly  rich 
and  luxuriant. 

"  Here,  they  twine  the  vines  around  trees,  and  let  them  trail  along 
the  hedges ;  and  the  vineyards  are  full  of  trees,  regularly  planted  for 
this  purpose,  each  with  its  own  vine  twining  and  clustering  around  it. 
Their  leaves  in  autumn  are  of  the  brightest  gold  and  deepest  red,  and 
never  was  there  anything  so  enchantingly  graceful  and  full  of  beauty. 
Through  miles  of  these  delightful  forms  and  colours,  the  road  winds  its 
way.  The  wild  festoons ;  the  elegant  wreaths,  and  crowns,  and  gar- 
lands of  all  shapes  ;  the  fairy  nets  flung  over  the  great  trees,  and  making 
them  prisoners  in  sport ;  the  tumbled  heaps  and  mounds  of  exquisite 
shapes  upon  the  ground  ;  how  rich  and  beautiful  they  are  !  And  every 
now  and  then,  a  long,  long  line  of  trees,  will  be  all  bound  and  garlanded 
together :  as  if  they  had  taken  hold  of  one  another,  and  were  coming 
dancing  down  the  field  !  " — Dickens. 

Half  an  hour  takes  us  from  Parma  to  Reggio  {Inn.  La 
Posta),  occupying  the  site  of  the  ancient  Regium  Lepidum. 
In  the  1 2th  century  it  was  a  Republic  under  the  Visconti 
and  Gonzagas,  but  in  1409,  under  Niccol6  d'Este,  was 
united  to  Modena. 

The  town  is  dull  and  uniform,  and,  like  Parma,  is  divided 
into  two  parts  by  the  Via  Emilia.  In  the  centre  is  the 
Cathedral,  of  the  15  th  century.    At  the  entrance  are  recum- 


232  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

bent  statues  of  Adam  and  Eve  by  the  native  artist  Prospero 
Clementi,  i^di.     In  the  interior  : — 

Left,  1st  Chapel.  Tomb  of  P.  Clementi  with  his  bust,  by  his  pupil 
Pacckione. 

Chapel  left  of  Choir.     Tomb  of  a  Bishop,  \>y  Bartol.  Spanus,  1508. 

Choir.  SS.  Prospero,  Maximus,  and  Catherine,  by  P.  Clementi;  also 
a  bronze  group  of  Christ  Triumphant  at  the  high  altar. 

Chapel  right  of  Choir.  Tomb  of  Bishop  Ugo  Rangoni,  1562,  by  P. 
Clementi. 

Westward  from  the  Cathedral  is  the  Church  of  La  Ma- 
donna della  Ghiaja,  a  Greek  cross,  with  five  cupolas,  designed 
by  Balbi  in  1597.  The  interior  is  covered  with  frescoes 
(1620 — 1640)  by  the  inferior  artists  of  the  Bolognese  school, 
who  had  studied  under  the  Caracci, — Lionello  Spada,  Tiartni, 
Luca  Ferrari  of  Reggio,  &c. 

West  from  this,  is  the  Church  of  S.  Prospero,  in  front  of 
which  stand  six  marble  lions  which  once  supported  its  Lom- 
bard portico.  In  the  interior  are  frescoes  by  Camp/,  Ttan'm, 
Procaccini,  &c.  The  famous  "  Notte "  of  Correggio,  now 
at  Dresden,  was  painted  for  one  of  the  chapels  of  this 
church. 

Ariosto  was  bom  at  Reggio  in  1474. 

On  the  whole,  Reggio  is  not  the  least  worth  stopping  to 
see. 

(About  20  m.  from  Reggio  on  the  road  to  Mantua  is 
Guastalla,  a  small  unimportant  cathedral  town.  It  was  a 
Countship  of  the  Torelli  from  1406  to  1509,  and  afterwards 
belonged  to  the  Gonzagas.  With  Parma  and  Piacenza  it 
formed  the  sovereignty  of  Maria  Louisa.  In  the  piazza  is  a 
bronze  statue  of  Ferrante  Gonzaga  I.  by  Leone  Leoni.) 

Half  an  hour  more  brings  us  to  Modena. 


I 


HISTORY  OF  MODENA.  233 

(Inns.  Albergo  Reale,  Corso  Canale  Grande ;  S.  Marco,  Corso  di  Via 
Emilia;  Mondatora,  Contrada  della  Mondatora. 

Carriages,  the  course,  70  c. ,  night,  I  fr. ;  with  2  horses,  90  c,  night,  I  fr. 
20  c. ;  I  hour,  i  fr.  10  c,  night,  i  fr.  40  c. ;  with  2  horses,  i  fr.  70  c, 
night,  2  fr. ;  each  succeeding  |  hour,  with  i  horse,  50  c,  with  2  horses, 
80  c. 

Omnibus,  20  c,  each  box  20  c,  each  bag  10  c. 

Post-office,  between  the  University  and  the  Porta  Bologna. ) 

Modena,  the  ancient  Mutina,  called  by  Cicero — "  firmis- 
sima  et  splendidissima  colonia,"  was  the  earliest  Roman 
colony  in  these  parts.  Like  Parma  it  was  celebrated  for 
its  wool — 

"  Sutor  cerdo  dedit  tibi,  culta  Bononia,  munus  j 
Fullo  dedit  Mutinse." — Martial,  iii.  Ep.  59. 

In  the  time  of  S.  Ambrose  it  was  so  reduced,  as  to 
be  described  by  him  as  only  the  corpse  of  a  city.  In  the 
Middle  Ages,  it  again  flourished,  though  constantly  the  scene 
of  conflicts  between  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines.  Obizzo 
d'Este  obtained  the  chief  power  in  1288,  and  bequeathed 
it  to  his  descendants.  In  1452  Bono  d'Este  was  created 
Duke  of  Modena  by  the  Emperor  Frederick  III.,  and  to 
this,  the  Dukedom  of  Ferrara  was  added  by  Pope  Paul  II. 
Duke  Hercules  I.  (147 1 — 1505)  and  his  son  Alfonso  I. 
(husband  of  Lucrezia  Borgia)  were  the  patrons  of  Ariosto. 
Alfonso  II.  (1558 — 1597)  was  the  patron  celebrated  by 
Tasso — 

"  Tu  niagnanimo  Alfonso,  il  qual  ritogli 

AI  furor  di  fortuna,  e  guidi  in  porto 

Me  peregrino  errante,  e  fra  gli  scogli 

E  fra  1'  onde  agitato,  e  quasi  assorto ; 

Queste  mie  carte  in  lieta  fronte  accogli 

Che  quasi  in  voto  a  te  sacrate  i'  porto." 

Gerus,  Lib.  i,  4. 

On  the  death  of  this  Duke,  without  children,  his  dominions 
of  Reggio  and  Modena  passed   to   his  connection  Cesare 


234  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

d'Este  (natural  grandson  of  Alfonso  I.),  but  he  was  expelled 
from  Ferrara  by  Pope  Clement  VIII.  The  wife  of  Cesare 
was  Virginia  dei  Medici,  daughter  of  the  Grand-duke  Cosimo 
I.,  by  his  second  marriage  with  Camilla  de'  Martelli.  He 
was  succeeded  in  1628  by  his  son  Alfonso  III.,  who,  after 
the  death  of  his  wife  Isabella  of  Savoy,  was  so  heart-broken 
tliat  he  retired  into  a  Capuchin  convent  in  the  Tyrol,  leav- 
ing his  dominions  to  his  son  Francesco  III.  In  the  reign 
of  this  prince  the  historian  Muratori  (ob.  1794)  lived  at 
Modena  as  ducal  Librarian.  Hercules  III.,  who  died 
at  Treviso  in  1803,  was  the  last  sovereign  of  the  house 
of  Este,  and  lost  his  dominions  at  the  Peace  of  Luneville. 
His  pretensions  were  transferred  to  the  Archduke  Ferdinand 
(third  son  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria),  who  had  married  his 
only  daughter  Beatrix,  and  who  died  in  1806.  His  son 
was  Francesco  IV.,  who,  when  driven  out  of  his  country, 
fled  to  Vienna  and  was  restored  by  the  aid  of  Austrian 
troops.  The  government  came  to  an  end  under  his  successor 
Francesco  V.,  when  the  country  proclaimed  Victor  Em- 
anuel its  ruler  in  1859. 

For  a  description  of  the  situation  of  Modena,  we  may 
read  the  lines  of  Tassoni — 

"  Modana  siede  in  una  gran  pianura, 
Che  da  la  parte  d'  austro  e  d'  occidente 
Cerchia  di  baize  e  di  scoscese  mura 
Del  selvoso  apennin  la  schiena  algente ; 
Apennin  ch'  ivi  tanto  a  1'  aria  pura 
S'  alza  a  veder  nel  mare  il  sol  cadente, 
Che  suUa  fronte  sua  cinta  di  gelo 
Par  che  s'  incurvi  e  che  riposi  il  cielo. 

Da  r  oriente  ha  le  fiorite  sponde 
Del  bel  Panaro  e  le  sue  limpid'  acque ; 
Bologna  incontro ;  e  a  la  sinistra,  1'  onde 
Dove  il  figlio  del  sol  gii  morto  giacque : 


CATHEDRAL  OF  MODENA. 


235 


Secchia  ha  da  1'  aquilon,  che  si  confonde 
Ne  giri  che  mutar  sempre  le  piacque; 
Divora  i  liti,  e  d'  infeconde  arene 
Semina  i  prati  e  le  campagne  amene." 

La  Secchia  Rapiia,  st.  8,  9. 

The  town,  which  is  well  built,  is  divided  by  the  Via  Emilia. 
Almost  in  the  centre  (close  to  the  Hotels)  is  the  Cathedral, 
which,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  picturesque  build- 
ing of  its  time.  It  was  begun  in  1099  by  the  desire  of  the 
Countess  Matilda  of  Tuscany,  from  the  designs  of  one  Lan- 
francus,  who  is  described  by  an  inscription  in  the  choir,  as — 
*'  ingenio  clarus,  doctus  et  aptus,  opens  princeps  et  rector." 
In  1 108  the  church  was  sufficiently  advanced  for  the  body 


Lions  of  Modena. 


of  S.  Geminianus,  the  patron  saint  of  Modena,  to  be  deposited 
there.  In  1184  it  was  consecrated  in  the  presence  of  Pope 
Lucius  m. 


236  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  west  front  has  a  grand  porch  of  two  stories  high  (the 
upper  story  containing  a  tomb),  with  pillars  resting  on  the 
backs  of  the  colossal  lions  which  were  frequently  used,  being 
intended  to  typify  the  strength  and  watchfulness  of  the 
Church,  but  which  here  are  perfectly  stupendous  in  their 
calm  magnitude.  The  reliefs  upon  the  walls  are  exceedingly 
curious,  and  are  perhaps  the  oldest  pieces  of  sculpture  in 
Northern  Italy. 

"The  reliefs  on  the  facade  are  divided  into  four  groups  ;  the  style  is 
genuinely  Romanesque,  similar  to  German  works  of  the  same  period, 
and  without  any  touch  of  Byzantine  influence.  The  three  first  divisions 
depict  the  history  of  the  Creation  up  to  Cain's  murder  of  his  brother. 
We  see  throughout  how  the  effort  after  lively  expression  struggles  with 
the  unskilfulness  of  thp  chisel.  Wonderful,  for  instance,  are  the  kneel- 
ing angels,  who  are  supporting  the  Creator.  Equally  curious  is  the 
action  of  Adam,  who,  in  his  creation,  is  in  the  act  of  prostrating  himself 
before  the  Lord.  In  the  Fall  of  Man,  they  are  standing  one  behind  the 
other ;  Eve  is  looking  round  towards  Adam,  who,  unconcerned,  is 
biting  the  apple.  In  the  next  scene,  where  God  is  reproving  the  two 
sinners,  the  expression  of  embarrassment  in  Eve's  countenance  becomes 
a  broad  grin.  In  the  Expulsion  from  Paradise  they  are  advancing  sadly 
behind  one  another,  covering  themselves  with  fig-leaves,  while  the  left 
hand  supports  the  head  with  an  expression  of  intense  grief.  The 
influence  of  northern  legends  is  evidenced  in  the  fourth  relief  group, 
which  represents  the  history  and  death  of  King  Artus.  In  the  principal 
portal  the  inner  part  of  the  side-posts  contains,  likewise,  in  strict 
Romanesque  style,  the  figures  in  relief  of  the  Prophets.  The  ornament, 
which  is  full  of  spirit  and  beauty,  contrasts  strikingly  with  the  simple 
and  awkward  style  of  the  human  figures.  Splendid  branch-work  covers 
the  pilasters,  interspersed  with  small  figures  of  animals  and  fantastic  crea- 
tures, sirens,  lions,  and  dragons,  all  full  of  sparkling  life,  and  excellently 
finished.  Still  more  excellent  are  the  arabesques  on  the  main  portal  of 
the  south  side,  while  the  figures  of  the  apostles  on  the  side-posts  and  the 
six  small  scenes  on  the  architrave,  though  full  of  life,  are  just  as  primitive 
as  the  work  of  the  faqade." — Liibke. 

The  west  front  is  hemmed  in  by  houses  on  each  side. 
From  under  an  archway  on  the  right,  we  enter  the  pictur- 
esque Piazza  Grande,  crowded  with  stalls  of  fruit,  which  the 


CATHEDRAL  OF  MODENA.  237 

market-women  hold  under  matted  roofs  like  sheds.  Upon 
this  busy  scene  looks  down  the  south  front  of  the  cathedral, 
with  a  porch  of  red  marble,  resting  on  grand  lions.  Beyond 
this  is  an  open-air  pulpit,  decorated  with  the  emblems  of  the 
Evangelists.  The  sculptured  frieze  round  the  smaller  door 
on  this  side,  is  wonderfully  beautiful  and  delicate. 

The  noble  tower,  315  ft.  high,  is  only  connected  with  the 
church  by  a  cloistered  walk.  It  is  called  La  Ghirlandina, 
from  the  sculpture  which  encircles  it  like  a  garland,  and  it 
is  always  regarded  as  one  of  the  four  great  towers  of 
Northern  Italy.  It  was  partially  finished  in  1224  and  com- 
pleted in  1 3 19.  In  the  tower  is  preserved  the  famous 
bucket  "  La  Secchia  Rapita  "  which  was  carried  off  by  the 
Modenese  (the  "Geminiani,"  from  their  saint)  from  a 
fountain  at  Bologna  to  the  great  discomfiture  of  the  "  Pe- 
troniani "  or  protected  of  S.  Petronio. 

"Quivi  Manfredi  in  su  I'altar  maggiore 
Pose  la  Secchia  con  divozione; 
E  poi  ch'  egli,  ed  il  clero,  e  Monsignore 
Fecero  al  santo  lunga  orazione, 
Fu  levata  la  notte  a  le  tre  ore, 
E  dentro  una  cassetta  di'  cotone 
Ne  la  torre  maggior  fu  riserrata, 
Dove  si  trova  ancor  vecchia  e  tarlata.. 

Ma  la  Secchia  fu  subito  portata 
Nella  torre  maggior,  dove  ancor  stassi 
In  alto  per  trofea  posta,  e  legata 
Con  una  gran  catena  a  curvi  sassi. 
'  S'entra  per  cinque  porte  ov'  e  guardata, 
E  non  e  cavalier,  che  di  la  passi, 
Ne  pellegrin  di  conto,  il  qual  non  voglia 
Veder  si  degna  e  gloriosa  spoglia." — Tassoni,  i.  63. 

In  the  Piazzetta  at  the  foot  of  the  tower  is  a  statue  of  the 
poet  Tassoni  (1565 — 1635)  erected  in  i86o. 


238  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

"The  Duomo  of  Modena  is  Italian,  and  not  French,  English,  or 
German.  Still  it  is  a  form  of  Italian  far  less  widely  removed  from 
French,  English,  or  German  work  than  the  style  of  Pisa  or  S.  Vitale  of 
Ravenna.  As  at  Pisa,  the  architect  seems  to  have  halted  between  two 
opinions.  The  church  is  cruciform,  but  the  transepts  have  no  projection 
on  the  ground-plan ;  there  are  real  lantern-arches,  not  obscured  as  they 
are  at  Pisa,  but  they  do  not  bear  up  any  central  dome  or  tower.  The 
lantern-arches  are  pointed;  but  here,  as  at  Pisa,  the  pointed  form  is 
more  likely  to  be  Saracenic  than  Gothic.  Without,  three  eastern  apses, 
rising  from  between  pinnacles  of  quite  Northern  character,  group  boldly 
with  one  of  the  noblest  campaniles  in  Italy,  which  is  certainly  not  im- 
proved by  the  later  addition  of  a  spire.  The  great  doorways  rest  on 
lions ;  the  west  front  has  a  noble  wheel -window ;  the  greater  part  of  the 
outside  is  lavishly  arcaded,  but  the  favourite  form  of  arcading  is  that  of 
several  ^mall  arches  grouped  under  a  containing  arch.  ...  At  Modena 
we  find  as  genuine  a  triforium  as  in  any  minster  in  England  or  Nor- 
mandy. To  be  sure  its  form  seems  somewhat  rude  and  awkward,  as  if 
the  containing  arch  had  been  crushed  by  the  lofty  clerestory  above,  and 
eyes  familiar  with  Norman  detail  may  possibly  be  amazed  at  the  sight  of 
mid- wall  shafts,  and  those  of  a  somewhat  rough  type,  showing  themselves 
in  such  a  position.  But  the  mid-wall  shaft  is  constructively  as  much  in 
its  place  in  a  triforium  as  it  is  in  a  belfry  window,  and  in  the  whole  ele- 
vation there  is  nothing  lacking ;  there  are  pier-arch,  triforium,  and 
clerestory,  and  the  deep  splay  of  the  highest  range  hinders  the  presence 
of  any  continuous  blank  spaces  such  as  we  have  seen  in  the  Basilican 
churches.  The  capitals  are  a  strange  mixture  of  classical  and  barbaric 
forms,  and  in  the  alternate  piers,  supporting  the  arches  which  span  the 
nave,  we  find  huge  half  columns,  which  form  a  marked  contrast  to  the 
tall  slender  shafts  commonly  used  in  like  positions  in  Northern  churches. 
Altogether  the  cathedral  of  Modena  is  strictly  an  Italian  church,  yet  the 
approaches  to  Northern  forms  are  very  marked,  and  they  are  of  a  kind 
which  suggests  the  direct  imitation  of  Northern  forms  or  the  employ- 
ment of  Northern  architects. " — Freeman. 

The  Interior  of  the  cathedral  is  very  stately  in  effect. 

"  A  grand  crypt  with  arches  on  slender  shafts  occupies  the  whole 
space  under  the  eastern  part  of  the  church.  The  access  to  the  choir 
from  the  nave  is  by  stairs  against  the  side  walls  in  the  same  position  as 
at  San  Zenone,  Verona.  Here  the  stairs  and  their  hand-rails  are  not 
later  than  the  thirteenth  century,  and  the  choir  is  divided  from  the  aisles 
by  screens  of  the  same  age  ;  solid  below,  and  with  a  continuous  cornice 
carried  on  coupled  shafts  above.  The  cathedi-al  is  said  to  have  been 
founded  in  1099,  but  an  inscription  on  the  south  wall  gives  the  date  of 


CATHEDRAL  OF  MO  DEN  A.  339 

the  consecration  of  the  building  by  Pope  Lucius  III.,  in  July  1184.  I 
believe  that  the  former  date  represents  the  age  of  the  plan,  and  of  most 
of  the  interior  columns  and  arches  still  remaining,  but  that  before  the 
later  date  the  whole  exterior  of  the  cathedral  had  been  modified,  and  the 
groining  added  inside.  The  work  of  both  periods  is  extremely  good  and 
characteristic.  The  columns  of  the  nave  are  alternately  great  piers  and 
smaller  circular  columns  of  red  marble,  the  great  piers  carry  cross 
arches  between  the  groining  bays,  and  each  of  these  in  the  nave  is  equal 
to  two  in  the  aisles.  The  capitals  here  are  very  close  imitations  of 
classical  work,  with  the  abaci  frequently  concave  on  plan.  The  main 
arches  and  the  triforium  openings  of  three  lights  above  them  are  seen 
both  in  the  nave  and  aisles,  the  vaulting  of  the  latter  being  unusually 
raised.  There  is  also  a  plain  clerestory,  and  the  vaults  are  now  every- 
where quadripartite.  The  outside  elevation  of  the  side  walls  is  very  in- 
teresting. Here  we  seem  to  have  the  old  aisle  wall  with  its  eaves-arcade 
added  to  and  raised  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  adorned  with  a  fine  deep 
arcade  in  each  bay,  enclosed  under  round  arches,  which  are  carried  on 
half  columns  in  front  of  the  buttresses  or  pilasters." — G.  E.  Street. 

The  pictures  are  not  generally  of  great  importance  :— 

Left,  2nd  Chapel.     A  curious  terra-cotta  Altar  of  the  15th  century, 

2,rd  Chapel.  A  Gothic  Altar-piece,  with  one  of  the  earliest  specimens  of 
Modenese  art,  a  Coronation  of  the  Virgin,  &c.,  by  Seraphinus  deSeraphi- 
nis,  1385. 

l^h  Chapel.  Dosso  Dossi,  1536,  one  of  the  best  works  of  the  master. 
A  Madonna  in  the  clouds  with  SS.  Antony  and  Pellegrino,  and  SS.  J. 
Baptist,  Sebastian,  and  Jerome  below.  Opposite  is  a  beautiful  Gothic 
pulpit  by  Tommaso  Ferri,  or  Tommaso  da  Modena,  1322. 

Iti  a  Niche.     Ant.  Begarelli,  1521.     The  Nativity. 

At  the  end  of  the  aisle,  on  right,  a  richly  sculptured  Holy-water 
Bason. 

Left  of  the  Choir.  Tomb  of  Claudio  Rangoni,  Count  of  Castelvetro, 
ob.  1537.  He  married  Lucretia,  daughter  of  the  famous  Pico  della 
Mirandola.  The  tomb  was  designed  by  Giulio  Romano,  as  was  that  of 
Lucia  Rusca  Rangoni,  mother  of  Claudio.  Here  also  is  the  tomb  of 
Francesco  Molza  the  Poet,  and  (in  a  chapel)  that  (by  Pisari)  of  Ercole 
Rinaldo,  last  Duke  of  the  House  of  Este,  who  was  deprived  of  his 
dominions  by  the  French,  ob.  iSojf.  His  only  child  Mary  Beatrix  mar- 
ried the  Archduke  Ferdinand  of  Austria,  and  was  the  grandmother  of 
Francesco  V.,  Duke  of  Modena. 

The  immense  Crypt  extends  under  the  whole  of  the  transepts  and  the 
three  tribunes.     S.  Geminiano  reposes  here.      Near  the  altar  is  a  very 


240  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

curious  coloured  terra-cotta  group  of  the  Adoration  of  the  Infant  Saviour 
by  Mazzoni.     At  the  entrances  are  four  grotesque  lions. 

If  we  take  the  cathedral  as  a  centre  for  exploring  the  town, 
we  may  follow  the  Contrada  della  Torre  to  the  Piazza  Reale, 
where  stands  the  vast  and  handsome  Palazzo  Ducale,  built 
by  Bart.  Avanzini  for  Duke  Francesco  I.  in  1634.  Since 
the  revolution  by  which  Modena,  from  the  rank  of  a  capital, 
degraded  itself  to  that  of  a  third-rate  provincial  town,  this 
abode  of  its  former  princes  has  in  part  been  used  as  a  mili- 
tary school.     On  the  further  side,  however,  it  retains  its — 

Picture  Gallery  (entrance  No.  4,  Corso  Cavour.  Open 
from  9  to  3.  The  catalogue  is  useless  and  the  names  are 
under  the  pictures).  There  are  very  few  important  pictures 
— the  great  names  given  being  frequently  false.  We  may 
notice : — 

2nd  Hall. — 

Entrance  Wall  : 

30.  Baldovinettil  (1138-1466).     Madonna. 

Bernabo  da  Modena,  1370-     Madorma  and  Crucifixion. 

.    Left  Wall  : 

36.  Francesco  Francia.     Annunciation. 

37.  Luigi  Angussola  da  Cremona,  1512.      Baptism  of  Christ. 

Wall  of  Exit  : 

39.  F.  Francia.     Assumption. 

42.  Lorenzo  Bicci,  1400 — 1460.     Madonna  and  Child. 

43.  Filippo  Lippi.     Madonna  and  Child  with  S.  John. 

44.  Antonio  Veneziano  (1309 — 1383).     Annunciation. 

46.  Bart.  Bonasia  da  Modena,  1485.  Christ  in  the  tomb  between 
the  Virgin  and  S.  John  the  Evangelist.  "  Interesting  from 
its  powerful  colouring."  It  is  signed  "  Hoc  opus  pinxit  Bar 
tolomeus  de  Bonasciis." 

50.  Francesco  Caroto,  1501.  Madonna  sewing  a  little  shirt.  There 
is  a  background  of  lemon-trees.  The  Infant  Saviour  pulls  at 
the  veil  of  the  Madonna. 


r 


PINACOTECA  OF  BOLOGNA.  241 

Right  Wall  : 

52.  Spinello  Aretino  {\lo% — 1389).     Marriage  of  a  Knight. 

"^rd  Hall. — 

On  the  ceiling  is  a  medallion  of  the  Rape  of  Ganymede,  on  linen, 
by  Correggio,  transported  by  the  Duke  of  Modena  from  the 
Gonzaga  castle  of  Novellara. 

66,  67,  71,  78,  83,  88,  89,  94,  95  to  100.  Niccolb  Abbate  da  Modena. 
A  series  of  scenes  from  the  ^neid,  brought  from  the  Bojardi 
castle  of  Scandiano,  together  with  several  landscapes  by  the 
same  master. 

66.   Correggio.     Cherub  from  a  ceiling  at  Novellara. 
107.  Niccolb  Abbate.     Eight  medallions  from  Scandiano,  representing 
Count  Matteo  Maria  Boiardo  with  figures  singing  and  playing. 

4//;  Hall  (Venetian  School). — 

On  the  ceiling — five  scenes  from  Ovid  by  Tintoret. 

Entrance  Wall: 
117.    Titian.     "  La  Moretta,"  a  portrait  of  a  woman  with  a  Moor- 
ish boy. 
113.     Paul  Veronese.     A  Warrior. 

Left  Wall  : 

125.  Fa7'is  Bordone.     The  Coming  of  the  Magi. 
127.   Gio.  Bellini.  (?)     Madonna  and  S.  Sebastian. 
129.  Pahjia  Vecchio.     Holy  Family. 

Right  Wall  : 

*I4I.  Bonifazio.     The  Adoration  of  the  Magi— a  grand  and  beau- 
tiful picture. 
14.3.  Cinia  da  Conegliano.  The  Deposition  from  the  Cross,  "executed 
,    for  Alberto  Pio  of  Carpi,  a  well-known  admirer  of  the  works 
of  Cima." — Crowe.     The  deep  woe  in  the  face  of  the  Ma- 
donna, who  has  fainted,  is  very  striking.  * 

^th  Hall.— 

Entrance  Wall  : 

149.    Gmdo  Reni.     The  Crucifixion — a  poor  specimen  of  the  master. 

Wall  of  Exit  : 
164.  Lad.  Caracci.     Assumption. 
VOL.  n.  16 


242  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

6th  Hall  (School  of  Ferrara). — 

Entrance  Wall  : 
172.    Garofalo.     The  Crucifixion.  ' 

176.  Dosso  Dossi  (1480 — 1560).     The  Nativity. 
178.  Id,     Hercules  II.,  Duke  of  Ferrara. 

Window  Wall  : 

189.  Garofalo.     Madonna  with  S.  Contardo  d'Este,  the  Baptist,  and 

S.  Lucia. 

190.  Id.  Madonna  and  Saints. 

♦191,  Dosso  Dossi.      Alfonso  I.,    Duke  of  Ferrara — a  magnificent 
portrait. 

Wall  of  Exit: 

192.  Girolamo  Carpi.     Alfonso  II.,  Duke  of  Ferrara. 

193.  Dosso  Dossi.     A  laughing  figure — grand  in  colour. 

']th  Hall  (Bolognese  School). — 

Entrance  Wall  : 

205.  Mich.  Ang.  Caravaggio.     Drinking  Soldier. 

Left  Wall  : 
207.   Guercino.     Amnon  and  Tamar. 

206.  Id.     Venus  and  Mars. 
210.  Francesco  Albani.     Aurora. 

239.  Lod.  Lana  da  Modena  {1597 — 1646).     Clorinda  and  Tancred. 

Window  Wall  : 
218.   Guercino.      Portrait  of  Cardinal  Mazzarin. 

%th  Hall— 
Left  Wall  : 
251.  Paul  Potter.     A  Peasant's  Cottage. 

9M  Hall. — 
Wall  of  Entrance  : 
298.  Bern.  Luini.  (?)     The  Saviour. 
297.  Falsely  attributed  to  Andrea  del  Sarto., 

xoth  Hall. — 

Entrance  Wall  : 
:     335.  Ippolito  Scarsellini,  \i)<f\ — 1621.     The  Nativity. 


1 


PINACOTECA  OFMODENA.  243 

337.   G.  C.  Procaccini,  1616.     The  Circumcision. 

341.   Guercino.     The  Preparation  for  the  Crucifixion  of  S.  Peter. 

348.  Lionello  Spada.     Masquerade. 

Left  Wall  : 
355.   Guercino,  i6i)0.  Marriage  of  S.  Catherine.    A  beautiful  picture. 

Opposite  Wall  : 

363.  Lionello  Spada.     Vision  of  S.  Francis. 
370.  Mccolb  dalle  Pomerance  {l$i<)—l$<)i).    Crucifixion. 
375.   Guido  Reni.     S.  Roch  in  prison. 

wth  Hall  (School  of  Modena). — 
Left  Wall  : 
404.   Gaspare  Pagani  da  Modena.    Marriage  of  S.   Catherine — the 
only  known  picture  of  the  artist. 

Wall  of  Exit  :  * 

418.  Abbate  Pietro  Paolo  da  Modena  {i$f)2— 162,0).  The  Presentation 

in  the  Temple. 

419.  Ercole  Sette  da  Modena  (1$"]$)  Coronation  of  the  Virgin. 

420.  Munari  da  Modena  (1480— 1523),  a  pupil  of  Raffaelle.     The 

Nativity. 

i7,th  Hall.— 
Entrance  Wall  : 
123.    Giorgione.^i)    (More  likely  Palma  Vecchio).    A  portrait. 
458.   Gerard  David  von  Brugge.  S.  Christopher — a  copy  from  the 
Memling  at  Munich. 

Right  Wall  : 

471.   Girol.  Moceto.  1480.     His  own  Portrait. 
Wall  of  Exit  : 

488.  Attributed  to  Raphael,  but  by  an  indifferent  pupil  of  Perugino. 
Madonna  and  Child  with  two  angels. 

The  Passage  leading  to  the  library  is  filled  with  a  very  interesting 
collection  of  Drawings  by  the  Old  Masters. 

The  Biblioteca  Estense  was  brought  from  Ferrara  by 
Cesare  d'Este.  West  of  the  Palace  are  the  dull  Giardini 
Pubblici. 


244  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

From  these  we  may  descend  the  Corso  Canale  Grande  to 
(right)  the  Church  of  S.  Vincenzo,  which  contains  sepulchral 
memorials  of  the  ducal  family,  especially  (in  the  right  tran- 
sept) the  tomb,  by  Mainoni,  of  Maria  Beatrix,  wife  of  Fran- 
cesco IV. 

Passing  (right)  the  University,  founded  1683,  we  reach 
(left — at  the  south-east  angle  of  the  town)  the  Church  of  S. 
Pietro,  the  earliest  building  in  Modena.  The  facade  is 
richly  adorned  with  terra-cotta.  The  interior  (spoilt  by 
hideous  modern  painting)  has  five  aisles,  the  centre  with 
round  arches,  the  side  aisles  pointed.     It  contains  : — 

*  Right,  yd  Altar.  Dosso  Dossi.  Assumption.  The  Virgin  with 
the  Dead  Christ — a  grand  and  solemn  picture. 

Right  Transept.  Antonio  Begarelli.  1532.  A  curious  terra-cotta  group 
(in  perspective)  ,of  the  Madonna  in  glory,  with  a  group  of  saints  beneath. 

Chapel  Right  of  Choir.  Atttonio  Begarelli.  Four  terra-cotta  figures 
bewailing  the  dead  Christ. 

"The  Madonna  is  sustained  by  S.  John  as  she  kneels  by  the  dead 
body  of  our  Lord,  whose  head  rests  upon  the  lap  of  Nicodemus.  The 
mourners  are  absorbed  by  one  feeling,  their  draperies  are  well  managed, 
and  the  head  of  S.  John  especially  is  fill!  of  sentiment." — Perkins'  Italian 
Sculptors. 

Against  the  pillars  of  the  central  aisle  are  terra-cotta  statues. 

From  here  we  may  cross  the  town  to — at  its  south-west 
angle — the  Gothic,  Church  of  S.  Francesco,  which  contains  : — 

Chapel  left  of  Choir.  Ant.  Begarelli.  A  very  remarkable  deposition 
in  terra-cotta. 

"Nicodemus  and  Joseph  of  Arimathea  with  two  other  persons  are  re- 
presented in  the  act  of  detaching  the  body  of  our  Lord  from  the  cross,  at 
whose  base  the  Virgin  swoons  in  the  arms  of  the  three  Marys.  SS. 
Anthony  of  Padua  and  Jerome  stand  at  the  foot  of  the  two  side  crosses, 
and  SS.  Francis  and  John  the  Baptist  kneel  near  them  in  ecstatic  con- 
templation. By  far  the  most  striking  feature  in  the  composition  is  the 
central  group  of  women,  one  of  whom  supports  the  head,  while  the  other 
two  hold  up  the  drooping  hands  of  the  Virgin,  whose  attitude  is  one  of 
complete  abandomnent,  and  whose  face  wears  that  expression  of  sufifering 


S.  GIOVANNI  DECOLLATO.  245 

which  the  features  sometimes  retain  while  consciousness  is  suspended. 
Had  this  group  been  painted  by  Correggio,  it  would  have  ranked  as  a 
masterpiece,  but  owing  to  its  fluttering  and  complicated  draperies,  and 
the  hasty  action  of  the  women  who  seem  to  have  turned  from  the  Cruci- 
fied just  in  time  to  receive  the  fainting  form  of  His  mother,  it  is  bad  in 
sculpture. " — Perkins. 

Mounting  the  wall  at  the  adjacent  Porta  S.  Francesco,  we 
may  follow  the  Passeggio  Pubblico  to  the  Porta  S.  Agostino, 
near  the  vast  Piazza  d'Armi,  where,  in  the  Piazzale  di  S. 
Agostino,  is  the  Church  of  S.  Maria  Po7nposa.  It  contains  a 
Pietk  of  Begarelli.  Left  of  the  High  Altar  is  the  tomb  of 
Carlo  Sigonius,  1524 — 1584,  and  close  by,  in  the  pavement, 
the  grave  of  Lud.  Ant.  Muratori,  the  historian.  There  is  a 
monument  to  him  in  the  side-porch,  and  his  statue  adorns  a 
neighbouring  piazza.  Close  to  the  church  is  the  Museo 
Lapidario  with  a  collection  of  ancient  sarcophagi  and  in- 
scriptions. 

The  Church  of  S.  Giovanni  Decollato  may  be  visited  for 
the  sake  of — 

"The  Mortorio,  by  Guido  Mazzoni,  called  II Modanino  after  his  birth- 
place, and  //  Paganino  after  his  grandfather.  The  dead  body  of  our 
Lord  lies  upon  the  ground  ;  the  Madonna,  a  weeping  old  woman,  who 
kneels  on  one  knee  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  behind  the  body  of  her  son,  is 
supported  by  the  beloved  disciple,  and  by  the  Magdalen,  who  leans  for- 
ward with  dishevelled  hair  and  distorted  features,  as  if  screaming  in  an 
agony  of  grief.  S.  Joseph  sits  at  the  head  of  the  body  stretching  out  his 
hands  towards  it,  and  several  of  the  disciples  are  grouped  around.  The 
startling  effect  of  these  coloured  life-sized  figures,  robed  in  heavy  but 
carefully  arranged  draperies,  modelled  with  no  small  skill,  may  easily  be 
imagined. " — Perkins. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

BOLOGNA. 

THREE  quarters  of  an  hour  in  quick  train  (4  frs.  90  c; 
3  frs.  90  c.)  brings  us  from  Modena  to  Bologna. 

[Ltits.  S.  Marco,  excellent  and  reasonable.  Albergo  Brun,  good. 
Del  Pellegrino.     Italia. 

Banker.     Neri,  Pal.  Fava,  Strada  Galliera. 

Post-office.     Selciata  di  S.  Francesco — to  the  left  of  the  hotels. 

Carriages,  from  the  station  to  the  hotels,  with  one  horse,  I  fr.  ; 
2  horses,  2^  frs.  In  the  town,  75  centimes  the  course,  i^  fr.  the  hour. 
With  2  horses  i  fr.  the  course,  2  frs.  the  hour  ;  for  each  half-hour 
beyond,  l  fr.     To  S.  Michele  in  Bosco  l^,  or,  with  2  horses,  3  frs.) 

Bologna  had  its  origin  in  Felsina,  which  is  mentioned 
by  Pliny  as  the  chief  of  the  Etruscan  cities  ("  princeps  Etru- 
riae  ")  north  of  the  Apennines.  It  became  a  Roman  colony 
in  B.C.  189,  under  the  name  of  Bononia.  St.  Ambrose  (Ep.  39) 
speaks  of  it  as  much  decayed  in  the  4th  century.  But 
after  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire  it  seems  to  have  regained 
its  importance.  In  mediaeval  times  it  was  one  of  the  fore- 
most cities  in  the  Guelphic  cause,  and  became  especially 
distinguished  in  the  war  of  1249,  which  followed  upon  the 
event  of  "  La  Secchia  Rapita."  King  Enzius,  the  Ghibelline 
chieftain,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Bolognese  in  the  battle 
of  Fossalto,  and  incarcerated  for  the  remaining  23  years  of 
his  life  in  the  palace  of  the  Podesta.  In  the  13th  century  the 
city  was  distracted  by  the  feuds  of  the  Gieremei  family  with 


I 


HISTORY  OF  BOLOGNA.  247 

that  of  the  Lambertazzi,  the  former  being  Guelphs,  the  L-.tter 
Ghibellines.  Pope  Nicholas  III.  was  called  in  as  mediator 
and  the  chief  power  rested  with  the  Popes,  till  a  revolution  in 
1334,  under  Taddeo  Pepoli,  who  seized  the  government  of 
Bologna,  which  he  afterwards  sold  to  the  Visconti.  The 
feuds  between  the  Visconti  and  the  Popes  gave  a  handle 
to  the  powerful  clan  of  Bentivoglio — of  which  so  many 
memorials  remain  in  the  city — who  seized  and  administered 
the  government  in  the  Pope's  name.  But  their  almost  in- . 
dependent  rule  excited  the  jealousy  of  Julius  II.,  who  de- 
stroyed their  palaces  and  exiled  their  family.  Bologna  was  long 
considered  as  the  second  city  in  the  Papal  States,  but  under 
the  rule  of  the  Popes  retained  the  management  of  its 
finances,  the  election  of  its  magistrates,  and  the  adminis- 
tration of  its  laws,  that  is  to  say,  the  essential  forms  of  a 
republic.  It  resisted  every  encroachment  upon  its  privi- 
leges, and  not  unfrequently  expelled  the  papal  legates  when 
inclined  to  overstrain  the  prerogatives  of  office.  This  guard- 
ed and  conditional  dependence  produced  at  Bologna  all  the 
advantages  that  accompany  liberty;  industry,  commerce, 
plenty,  population,  knowledge,  and  refinement.* 

Burke,  in  speaking  of  the  state  of  Bologna  under  the 
papal  rule  before  the  French  invasion,  calls  it  "the  free, 
fertile,  and  happy  city  and  state  of  Bologna,  the  cradle  of  re- 
generated law,  the  seat  of  sciences  and  of  arts,  the  chosen 
spot  of  plenty  and  delight"  Very  different  has  been  the 
state  of  the  city  since  its  annexation,  in  i860,  to  the  new 
kingdom  of  Victor  Emanuel.  It  still  however  retains  its 
reputation  as  the  most  intellectual  of  Italian  towns,  and  has 
an  agreeable   society  of    well-informed    resident    nobility 

*  See  Eustace's  Classixral  Tour, 


248  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  palaces  formerly  contained  very  fine  collections  of 
pictures,  but,  since  the  owners  have  become  impoverished 
by  the  taxations  of  the  present  government,  these  have,  for 
the  most  part,  been  dispersed. 

"The  two  grand  features  of  the  Bolognese  character,  are  formed  by 
the  two  most  honourable  passions  that  can  animate  the  human  soul — 
the  love  of  knowledge,  and  the  love  of  liberty  ;  passions  which  predom- 
inate through  the  whole  series  of  their  history,  and  are  justly  expressed 
on  their  standard,  where  '  Libertas'  (Liberty)  blazes  in  golden  letters  in 
the  centre,  while  'Bononia  docet'  (Bologna  distributes  knowledge) 
waves  in  embroidery  down  the  borders." — Eustace. 

No  one  will  visit  Bologna  without  wishing  to  know  some- 
thing of  its  famous  ScJiool  of  Paint iftg.  Its  founder  is  said 
by  Malvasia  to  have  been  Franco,  a  miniaturist  celebrated 
by  Dante,  but  all  his  works  have  perished.  His  more  re- 
markable pupils  were  Lorenzo,  and  Vitale  (1320),  sumamed 
Delle  Madonne,  from  his  success  in  painting  the  Virgin  \ 
Jacopo  Avajizi ;  and  Lippo  Dalmasio,  also  Delle  Madonne. 
To  these  succeeded,  as  if  inspired  by  the  pictures  of  Peru- 
gino,  which  first  appeared  about  that  time,  the  glorious 
Francesco  Franda,  1490 — 1538.  Of  the  pupils  who  followed 
in  his  steps,  tlie  chief  were  his  son  Giacomo  Franda,  Amico 
and  Guido  Aspertini,  and  Lorenzo  Costa.  Innocenza  da 
Imola  and  Bagnacavallo  were  also  his  pupils,  but  afterwards 
exchanged  his  style  for  that  of  Mariotto  Albertinelli,  under 
whom  they  studied  at  Florence.  The  style  of  Michael 
Angelo  was  afterwards  to  a  certain  extent  engrafted  upon 
the  Bolognese  school  by  Francesco  Primaticcio,  Niccolb  Abate, 
and  Pellegrino  Pibaldi.  These  painters  were  followed  by 
Lorenzo  Sabbatini,  Orazio  Fumacchini,  Lainnia  Fontana, 
and  Passerotto. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  i6th  century,  when  the  works  of 
Correggio  were  in  highest  repute,  the  importance  of  the 


THE  SCHOOL  OF  BOLOGNA.  249 

Bolognese  school,  which  had  long  been  waning,  was  revived 
under  the  Caracci.  Of  these,  the  greatest  was  undoubtedly 
Lodovico  (1555 — 1619),  who,  after  a  long  course  of  study 
under  Titian  and  Tintoret  at  Venice,  and  from  the  works  of 
Correggio  and  Parmigianino  at  Parma,  began  to  compete 
with  the  old  school,  introducing  a  new  style  of  his  own,  and 
for  that  purpose  formed  a  party  among  the  rising  pupils  at 
Bologna.  Of  these  the  most  important  were  his  own  two 
cousins,  Agostino  (1558 — i6oi)and  Annibale  (1560 — 1609) 
— sons  of  a  tailor  at  Bologna.  The  extraordinary  genius  of 
the  Caracci,  and  their  temper  and  judgment,  speedily  filled 
their  school,  and  amongst  their  pupils  were  Donienichino 
(Domenico  Zampieri),  Francesco  Albani  (1578 — 1660),  and 
Guido  Rem  (1575 — 1642),  in  whose  time  Bologna  attained 
its  greatest  celebrity.  Guido  had  many  pupils  and  suc- 
cessors, of  whom  Semenzi,  Dojneriico  Canuti,  Gutdo  Cagfiacci, 
Simone  Cantarini,  Gio.  Andrea  Sirani  and  his  daughter 
Elizabetta,  are  the  best  known.  Among  other  celebrated 
followers  of  the  Caracci  were,  Guercino  (Gio.  Francesco 
Barbieri),  1590 — 1666;  Giovanni  Lanfranco,  1581 — 1647; 
Giacomo  Cavedone;  Lionello  Spada;  Alessandro  Tiarini ; 
and  Lucio  Mazzari.  Dionysius  Calvaert  (II  Fiammingo) 
was  a  contemporary  of  the  Caracci,  but  their  most  zealous 
opponent. 

The  works  of  Lodovico  Caracci  especially  ought  not  to  be 
judged  anywhere  except  at  Bologna  or  Parma.  Here  no 
one  can  fail  to  acknowledge  their  grandeur. 

"The  three  Caracci  may  be  almost  said  to  define  the  boundaries  of 
the  golden  age  of  painting  in  Italy.  They  are  her  last  sovereign  mas- 
ters, unless  we  are  willing  to  admit  a  few  of  their  select  pupils,  who 
extended  that  period  during  the  space  of  some  years.  Excellent  mas- 
ters, doubtless,  flourished  subsequently ;   but  after  their  decease,  the 


250  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

powers  of  such  artists  appearing  less  elevated  and  less  solid,  we  begin 
to  hear  complaints  respecting  the  decline  of  art." — Lanzi. 

The  pictures  are  the  chief  attraction  of  Bologna,  but  there 
is  much  to  be  admired  in  its  picturesque  old  buildings, 
and  curious  piazzas,  with  their  relics  of  mediaeval  architec- 
ture and  sculpture;  and  delightful  excursions  may  be  made 
into  the  lower  ranges  of  the  Apennines,  which  are  most 
beautiful  when  the  woods  with  which  they  are  covered  are 
glowing  with  the  scarlet  tints  of  autumn, 

"  Bologna  is  emphatically  the  city  of  columns.  Every  street  has  its 
long  shady  arcades,  with  capitals  often  richly  wrought ;  and  to  the  west 
of  the  town  a  colonnade  of  three  miles  in  length,  built  at  different  times 
by  the  liberality  of  various  individuals  and  societies  among  the  citizens, 
leads  up  to  the  church  of  La  Madonna  della  Guardia.  This  fancy  for 
colonnades  has  made  Bologna  a  very  picturesque  city,  and  renders  its 
exploration  much  more  pleasant  to  the  traveller,  who  is  enabled  to  pass 
from  church  to  church  in  the  shade." — Dean  Alford. 

"  To  enter  Bologna  at  midnight  is  to  plunge  into  the  depths  of  the 
middle  ages. 

"  Those  desolate  sombre  streets,  those  immense  dark  arches,  those 
endless  arcades  where  scarce  a  foot-fall  breaks  the  silence,  that  labyrinth 
of  marble,  of  stone,  of  antiquity  :  the  past  alone  broods  over  them  all. 

"  As  you  go  it  seems  to  you  that  you  see  the  gleam  of  a  snowy  plume, 
and  the  shine  of  a  rapier  striking  home  through  cuirass  and  doublet, 
whilst  on  the  stones  the  dead  body  falls,  and  high  above  over  the  lamp- 
iron,  where  the  torch  is  flaring,  a  casement  uncloses,  and  a  woman's 
hand  drops  a  rose  to  the  slayer,  and  a  woman's  voice  murmurs,  with  a 
cruel  little  laugh,  *  Cosa  fatta  capo  ha  ! ' 

*'  There  is  nothing  to  break  the  spell  of  the  old  world  enchantment. 
Nothing  to  recall  to  you  that  the  ages  of  Bentivoglio  and  the  Visconti 
have  fled  for  ever." — Pascarel. 

Two  or  three  days  may  be  most  advantageously  given  to 
the  town,  where  the  traveller  will  find  every  comfort  in  the 
hotels,  Modena  and  Ferrara  may  also  be  pleasantly  visited 
in  the  day  from  Bologna,  but  Ravenna  has  too  much  of 
interest,  and  richly  deserves  a  separate  visit.  Most  of  the 
churches  in  Bologna  itself  contain  some  object  worth  seeing, 


PIAZZA  NETTUNO.  251 

but  the  sights  which  should  on  no  account  be  left  unvisited 
are,  the  Piazza  Maggiore  and  S,  Petronio,  the  Leaning  Towers, 
the  pictures  in  S.  Giacomo  and  S.  Cecilia,  the  University, 
the  Pinacoteca,  the  Portico  of  the  Servi,  the  extraordinary- 
Church  of  S.  Stefano,  and  the  tomb  of  S.  Domenic  in  S. 
Domenico,  with  its  adjoining  piazza.  Besides  these  build- 
ings in  the  town,  no  one  should  fail  to  see  La  Madonna  di 
Mezzaratta,  and  to  ascend  the  hill  to  the  Church  of  S. 
Michele  in  Bosco,  and  the  magnificent  view  from  the  garden 
of  what  was  the  Papal  Palace.  Most  travellers  will  also 
consider  the  Campo  Santo  well  worth  visiting.  S.  Luca 
may  be  omitted  if  S.  Michele  is  seen.  It  should  be  re- 
membered that  the  smaller  churches  are  seldom  open  after 
1 2  o'clock.  The  principal  hotels  are  all  close  together  and 
in  the  best  situation.  We  shall  therefore  take  them  as  a 
centre. 

Turning  to  the  right  from  the  hotels  (S.  Marco  or  Brun), 
and  skirting  the  walls  of  the  Zecca  or  Mint,  with  its  huge 
machicolations,  built  in  1578  by  Dom.  Tibaldi,  we  are  almost 
immediately  amid  the  group  of  buildings  which  form  both 
the  historic  and  the  actual  centre  of  the  city.  The  open 
spaces,  used  as  markets,  and  crowded  with  picturesque 
figures,  with  their  brilliant  stalls  shaded  by  great  red  and 
blue  umbrellas,  are  surrounded  by  a  succession  of  mag- 
nificent buildings,  rugged  indeed  and  unfinished  as  most 
Italian  buildings  are,  but  stupendous  in  their  forms,  grand 
in  their  proportions,  and,  from  the  rich  and  varied  colouring 
of  their  dark  brown  roofs,  grey  walls,  and  brilliant  orange 
window-blinds,  well  worthy  of  an  artist's  sketch-book. 

The  first  portion  of  the  square  on  the  right  is  called 
Piazza  Nettuno.     On  its  right  is  the  Palazzo  Pubblico,  on 


252  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

its  left  the  Palazzo  del  Podesta,  and,  in  the  centre,  the 
famous  fountain,  surmounted  by  the  celebrated  Statue  of 
Neptune,  executed  in  1564  by  Giovanni  da  Bologna*  which 
is,  as  Vasari  calls  it,  "  a  most  beautiful  work,  studied  and 
executed  to  perfection."  The  marble  sculpture  below  is  by 
Antonio  Lupi.  All  the  surroundings  are  grandiose  to  the 
last  degree,  and  make  one  smile  to  remember  to  what 
buildings  one  is  accustomed  to  apply  such  epithets  as 
"  magnificent "  in  England. 

The  Palazzo  Pubblico,  formerly  Apostolico,  begun  in  1300, 
is  adorned  on  the  outside  with  a  Madonna  in  terra-cotta  by 
NicoVo  deir  Area,  and  a  bronze  statue  of  Gregory  XIII.,  who 
was  a  native  of  Bologna,  by  Alessandro  Menganti  (1580). 
In  1796,  in  order  to  preserve  it  from  the  revolutionists,  the 
tiara  was  removed  and  it  was  turned  into  a  statue  of  S. 
Petronius,  the  patron  of  the  city.  To  the  right  of  this  is  a 
beautiful  range  of  terra-cotta  arches,  now  filled  in  with  brick- 
work. 

If  we  enter  the  palace,  we  shall  find  a  magnificent  stair- 
case a  cordoni,  a  work  of  Bramante,  which  leads  to  the  great 
ante-chamber  called  the  Hall  of  Hercules,  from  a  colossal 
model  of  a  seated  statue  by  Alfonso  Lombardi  of  Ferrara. 
Several  of  the  other  rooms  are  interesting.  The  Sala  Farnese 
(so  called  from  a  bronze  statue  of  Paul  III.)  has  frescoes 
relating  to  the  history  of  Bologna  by  Carlo  Cig?iani,  Scara- 
muccia,  Fasinelli,  and  others.  The  ante-chamber  of  the  2nd 
floor  has  a  beautiful  door  decorated  with  the  arms  of  Julius 
III.    In  the  third  court  is  a  fountain  by  Francesco  Terribilia. 

The  Falazzo  del  Fodesta  was  begun  in  1201,  and  was 
worked  at  with  such  diligence  that  its  beautiful  tower — Tor- 

♦  He  was  a  native  of  Douai  in  Flanders. 


PALAZZO  DEL  PODESTA.  253 

razzo  deir  Aringo — was  finished  in  1264.  The  fagade  was 
added  in  1485  under  Bartolomeo  Fioravanti.  The  sculpture 
of  its  pillars  and  the  richly-wrought  iron-work  are  of 
great  beauty.  Pope  John  XXIII.  was  elected  (14 10) 
in  the  great  hall  called  Sala  del  Re  Enzio.  On  the  upper 
staircase  leading  to  the  Archivio  is  a  curious  picture  of  the 
Annunciation  by  the  rare  master,  Jacopo  di  Paolo  Avanzi. 
The  archives  are  of  great  interest  and  importance,  and  con- 
tain among  their  treasures  the  Bull  Spiritus  Sandus  of 
Eugenius  IV.  (July  6,  1439)  for  the  union  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  Churches. 

Amongst  those  who  have  inhabited  this  vast  old  palace, 
the  chief  interest  hangs  around  the  unfortunate  King  Enzius 
(son  of  the  emperor  Frederick  II.),  who  was  imprisoned  here 
from  1249  to  1272. 

"  In  a  skirmish  before  the  city  Enzio  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner. 
Implacable  Bologna  condemned  him  to  perpetual  imprisonment.  All 
the  entreaties  to  which  his  father  humbled  himself ;  all  his  awsx  splendid 
promises  that  for  his  ransom  he  would  gird  the  city  with  a  ring 
of  gold,  neither  melted  nor  dazzled  the  stubborn  animosity  of  the  Guelfs  ; 
a  captive  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  this  youth,  of  beauty  equal  to  his 
bravery — the  poet,  the  musician,  as  well  as  the  most  valiant  soldier 
and  consummate  captain — pined  out  twenty-three  years  of  life,  if  not  in 
a  squalid  dungeon,  in  miserable  inactivity.  Romance,  by  no  means 
improbable,  has  darkened  his  fate.  The  passion  of  Lucia  Biadagoli, 
the  most  beautiful  and  high-bom  maiden  in  Bologna,  for  the  captive, 
and  her  efforts  to  release  him,  were  equally  vain  :  once  he  had  almost 
escaped,  concealed  in  a  cask  ;  a  lock  of  his  bright  hair  betrayed  the 
secret." — Milnian,  Hist,  of  Latin  Christianity. 

Beneath  this  vast  old  pile  are  four  arched  corridors,  paved 
ruggedly  like  streets,  and  occupied  by  vendors  of  small 
wares.  At  the  centre,  where  they  meet,  are  terra-cotta 
statues  of  the  four  saintly  protectors  of  Bologna  by  Alfo?iso 


254  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Lombardo*  Artists  will  not  fail  to  admire  the  exquisite 
effect  of  the  beautiful  fountain  of  Giovanni  with  its  jets  of 
silvery  spray  shooting  up  against  the  rich  colour  of  the 
opposite  palace,  as  seen  through  the  deep  shadow  of  one 
of  these  dark  arcades. 

The  wider  part  of  the  square  towards  which  the  Palazzo 
Podestafaces,  'xaX}^.^. Piazza  Maggiore  (now  sometimes  foolishly 
called  Vittorio  Emanuele).  On  the  right,  is  the  Portico  del 
Banchi,  arranged  (1562)  by  the  great  architect  Vignola,  and 
containing  some  of  the  best  shops  in  the  town — a  cloistered 
walk  with  the  most  charming  effects  of  perspective  imaginable. 
In  the  Residenza  dei  Notari,  which  opens  from  the  portico,  a 
building  of  the  13th  century,  Rolandino  Passeggieri  acted 
as  pro-consul.  The  chapel  contains  a  Madonna  by  Part. 
Passerotti,  and  a  diploma  of  Frederick  III.,  1462  (confirmed 
by  a  bull  of  Julius  II.),  conferring  the  singular  power  of 
legitimatizing  natural  children  ! 

The  noble  church  which  reigns  over  the  piazza  is  the 
Basilica  of  S.  Petronio,  the  most  important  ecclesiastical 
building  in  Bologna.  It  was  begun  on  the  most  colossal 
scale  by  Antofiio  Vincenzi  in  1388, 'what  we  now  see  being 
only  the  nave  and  aisles  of  the  original  design,  according  to 
which  its  length  would  have  been  750  feet,  136  more  than 
that  of  S.  Peter's  at  Rome. 

Unfinished  as  it  is,  the  fagade  with  its  marble  platform 
and  huge  basement  is  excessively  grand,  and  its  details 
deserve  the  most  careful  examination.     Many  of  the  most 

•  There  are  a  vast  number  of  the  works  of  Alfonso  Lombardo  in  Bologna,  who  was 
much  patronized  while  here  by  Charles  V.  He  made  himself  exceedingly  unpopular 
by  his  vanity,  and  was  eventually  driven  out  of  Bologna  by  the  ridicule  excited,  when 
he  was  overheard  saying  at  a  ball,  with  an  amorous  sigh  to  a  great  Bolognese  lady — 
"  S'amor  non  h,  che  dunque  6  quel  ch'io  sento  '' — "  If  it  is  not  love  that  I  feel,  what 
is  it?"  to  which  she  answered — "  E'sera  qualche  pidocchio  " — "Perhaps  it  is  a 
louse ! " 


I 


S.  PETRONIO.  25s 

famous  architects  of  the  14th  and  15th  century  have  laboured 
at  it ;  Paolo  di  Bonasuto  in  1394,  who  executed  several  of 
the  half-length  figures  of  saints  ;  Giacomo  della  Querela  in 
1429,  by  whom  are  the  reliefs  round  the  central  doorway, 
which  are  of  marvellous  beauty ;  and  in  their  footsteps 
followed  Alfonso  Lombardo  {1^20),  Niccolh  Tribolo,  and  many 
others. 

Over  the  principal  entrance  the  famous  bronze  statue,  by 
Michael  Angelo,  of  Julius  II.  was  erected  in  1508.  The 
Pope  was  represented  seated,  with  the  keys  and  a  sword  in 
his  left  hand  and  his  right  hand  raised — "  to  bless  or  to 
curse?"  asked  the  warrior-pope, — "  to  teach  the  Bolognese 
to  be  reasonable,"  replied  the  sculptor.  The  statue  only 
existed  for  three  years,  then  it  was  destroyed  by  the  people 
and  sold  as  old  metal  to  the  Duke  of  Ferrara,  who  made  out 
of  it  the  cannon  called  "  Julian." 

Though  injured  in  effect  by  paint  and  whitewash,  the  In- 
terior of  S.  Petronio  is  sublimely  beautiful  in  its  proportions, 
and  reminds  the  traveller  of  the  pure  Gothic  north  of  the 
Alps.  From  the  great  nave,  a  vast  number  of  chapels  open 
on  either  side,  immense  in  themselves.  S.  Petronio  has  been 
compared  to  the  universal  Church  of  Christ,  in  which  many 
separate  churches  exist,  and  hold  their  own  services  quite 
distinct,  none  having  any  share  with  its  neighbour,  though 
all  with  the  same  end  in  view,  and  all  diverging  from  one 
great  common  centre.  Charles  V.  was  crowned  here  by 
Clement  VIL,  Sep.  24,  1530.  On  the  right  and  left  of  the 
great  door  are  the  tombs  of  Bishop  Beccadelli,  and  Cardinal 
Lazzaro  Pallavicini.  Making  the  round  of  the  church  from 
the  right,  we  find  : — 

1st  Chapel.     Hans  Ferrabeck.     Madonna  della  Pace. 

2nd  Chapel  (of  the  Pepoli  family).      Two  frescoes  on  the  side-walls 


256  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

of  Madonnas  with  Saints  by  Luca  di  Peruxa,  a  Bolognese  master, 
signed  1431  and  I4S7. 

3r^  Chapel.  Amico  Aspertini  (1519).  A  Pietk  in  tempera.  Tlie 
monument  of  Cardinal  Carlo  Oppizzoni,  Archbishop  of  Bologna  for  53 
years,  who  left  all  his  fortune  to  the  charities  of  the  city. 

6^h  Chapel.  Stained  glass  by  the  Beato  Jacopo  (of  Ulm),  1407— 1491. 
The  beautiful  marble  rails  are  by  Vignola. 

6th  Chapel.     Lorenzo  Costa.     S.  Jerome — injured. 

'jth  Chapel — of  the  Relics — quite  a  Museum. 

%th  Chapel  (of  the  Malvezzi  Campeggi),  by  Vignola,  the  stall  work  is 
by  Raffaelle  da  Brescia. 

gth  Chapel.  Jacopo  Sansavino.  Statue  of  S.  Antonio.  On  the  walls 
the  miracles  of  the  saint  are  painted  in  chiaro-scuro  by  Girolamo  Pen- 
nacchi  da  Trevigi. 

nth  Chapel.  Nicoclb  Tribolo.  Arelief  of  the  Assumption.  The  two 
angels  on  the  right  and  left  are  by  Properzia  de'  Rossi. 

We  now  reach  the  Sacristy,  which  contains  22  pictures  of  the  life  of 
S.  Petronio  by  different  artists. 

The  Baldacchino  is  from  a  design  by  Terribilia.  The  fresco  of  the 
Madonna  and  S.  Petronio,  with  the  town  of  Bologna,  is  by  Franceschini. 

Opposite  to  the  entrance  of  the  Sacristy  is  that  of  the  halls  of  the 
Reverenda  Fabbrica  (the  workshop  of  the  church),  which  contain  many 
interesting  designs  for  the  unfinished  faqade  by  the  great  architects  of 
the  time — Palladio,  Peruzzi,  Giulio  Romano,  Vignola,  &c.  The  most 
interesting  of  the  sculptures  preserved  here  are  those  of  the  unhappy 
Properzia  dei  Rossi  (so  greatly  extolled  by  Vasari),  who  died  of  unre- 
quited love  during  the  coronation  of  Charles  VII.,  just  when  Pope 
Clement  VII.,  struck  by  her  genius,  had  decided  to  give  her  an  honour- 
able appointment  at  Rome.  They  include  the  bust  of  Count  Guido 
Pepoli,  executed  as  a  proof  of  her  skill  when  competing  to  be  allowed 
to  work  in  the  bas-reliefs  of  the  great  doorway ;  and  a  relief  of  Poti- 
phar's  wife,  which  is  considered  to  be  her  master-piece. 

Returning  by  the  left  aisle  of  the  church  : — 

\^h  Chapel.  Dion  Calvaert  (Fiammingo).  The  Archangel  Michael. 
A  beautiful  iron  railing  of  the  15th  century. 

\^th  Chapel.     Parmegianino.      S.  Roch. 

*\(ith  Chapel.  Lorenzo  Cw/rt  (1492).  S.  Anne  and  the  Virgin  en- 
throned, with  saints.  The  stained  glass  is  from  designs  of  Costa.  Here 
are  the  tombs  of  Eliza  Bacciochi,  sister  of  Napoleon  I.,  and  her  husband. 

\%th  Chapel.  Francesco  Cossa.  Martyrdom  of  S.  Sebastian.  The 
frescoes  of  the  Annunciation  and  the  12  Apostles  are  by  Lorenzo  Costa. 


ANTICO  ARCHIGINNASIO,  257 

The  stall  work  is  by  Agostino  da  Crema.  The  enamelled  tiles  are  ol 
1487.  On  the  pillar  beyond  this  chapel  is  a  very  curious  ancient  wooden 
statue  of  S.  Petronio.  He  was  Bishop  and  Patron  Saint  of  the  town, 
and  is  represented  in  the  latter  character  in  the  great  Pieta  of  Guido. 
He  died  a  natural  death  Oct.  4,  430,  having  been  chiefly  distinguished 
for  banishing  the  Arians  from  Bologna. 

19//4  Chapel  (Bolognini),  of  1392,  which  has  a  screen  of  red  and  white 
marble,  is  the  oldest  part  of  the  church.  The  frescoes,  which  are 
very  curious,  are  attributed  by  Vasari  to  Buffalmacco. 

21  st  Chapel,  was  gaily  modernized  to  receive  the  head  of  S.  Petronio, 
removed  by  Benedict  XIV.  from  S.  Stefano. 

The  four  ancient  Crosses  in  this  church  have  been  brought  here  from 
different  quarters  of  the  town.  That  near  the  clock  bears  the  name 
"  Petrus  Alberici,"  and  the  date  1159. 

"  Tradition  says  that  these  crosses  were  erected  near  the  old  gates  by 
S.  Petronius,  in  the  5th  century.  One  of  them  is  particularly  interesting 
on  account  of  its  sculptures,  and  because  the  names  of  Petrus  Albericus 
and  his  father  who  made  it  are  recorded  in  one  of  its  inscriptions.  At 
the  back  of  .this  cross  Christ  is  represented  in  a  mandorla,  supported  by 
the  three  Archangels,  Michael,  Gabriel,  and  Raphael,  holding  the  book 
of  the  new  law  open  upon  his  knee,  and  giving  the  benediction  with  his 
right  hand.  Upon  the  front,  Christ  crucified  holds  this  dialogue  with 
his  mother  :  '  My  son, '  she  says  to  him  ;  and  he,  '  What,  mother  ? ' — 
Q.  'Are  you  God?' — A.  'I  am.' — Q.  '  Why  do  you  hang  (upon  the 
cross)?' — A.  'That  mankind  may  not  perish.'" — Perkins'  Italian 
Sculptors. 

On  the  Pavement  is  the  meridian  line  of  Giov.  Dom.  Cassini,  1653. 

Behind  S.  Petronio,  on  the  left  of  the  arcade,  is  the 
Public  Library,  formerly  the  Antico  Archiginnasio  (open  on 
week  days  from  10  to  4).     It  was  built  by  Terribilia  in 

1562.  The  court  is  most  brilliant  in  colour,  its  colonnades 
being  completely  covered  with  armorial  bearings  of  former 

jrofessors  of  the  University.  From  hence  opens  the 
^'Chapel,  covered  with  frescoes  of  the  Life  of  the  Virgin  by 
\Bart.  Cesi.  The  altar-piece  of  the  Annunciation  is  by  Dion. 
I  Calvaert.  In  the  upper  floor  are  a  long  series  of  halls  filled 
[with  books,  and  decorated  with  armorial  bearings  of  dis- 
[tinguished  students,  producing  altogether  a  beautiful  and 
VOL,  u.  17 


25  S  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

harmonious  effect  of  colour.     Beyond  these  is  the  Museum, 

containing  an  admirable  collection  of  Egyptian  and  Etruscan 

antiquities,  bequeathed  by  Cav.  Pelagio  Pelagi.     But  most 

interesting  is  the  collection  of  Etruscan  antiquities  of  great 

importance,  discovered  in   1870   at   Bologna   itself,  when 

I    digging  the  foundations  of  a  house  near  the  Campo  Santo. 

I    They  have  all  been  removed  and  brought  hither  with  great 

;    care,  and  comprise  a  number  of  monumental  stones  of  very 

j    curious  forms,  and  sculptured  in  low  relief  (one  of  them,  of  a 

j    dead  man  received  by  a  good  Genius,  of  wonderful  beauty), 

I    a  number  of  perfect  skeletons  of  people  who  lived  2500 

years-  ago — the  ladies  in  several   cases   still  wearing  their 

bracelets,  and  with  their  bottles  of  perfume  by  their  sides, 

the  children  having  whole  services  of  little  cups  and  saucers, 

in  some  of  which  egg-shells  &c.  remain,  a  noble  bronze 

cista,  and  a  great  variet}'  of  candelabra,  vases,  and  jewels. 

To  the  student  of  Etruscan  antiquities  this  collection  will 

prove  quite  invalual)le. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Piazza  Nettuno  is  the  Cathedral 
of  S.  Pietro,  a  dull  edifice  of  the  17th  century,  with  an 
ancient  campanile.  The  interior,  which  is  of  Corinthian 
architecture,  contains  : — 

Right,  znd  Chapel.  The  skull  of  S.  Anna,  given  by  Henry  VI.  of 
England  to  the  Blessed  Niccol6  Albergato. 

On  the  arch  above  the  high-altar.  Lodovico  Caracci.  The  Annunci- 
ation. Lanzi  mentions  that  the  artist  died  of  grief  on  discovering  that 
he  had  made  a  fault  in  the  foot  of  this  Madonna,  which  he  was  not 
allowed  to  rectify. 

The  Holy-  Water  Basons  are  supported  by  marble  lions  which  pro- 
bably upheld  the  portico  of  the  earlier  church.  They  are  ascribed  to 
Ventura  da  Bologna. 

In  the  Crypt  is  a  curious  group  of  the  Maries  mourning  over  the  dead 
Christ,  by  Alfonso  Lombardo. 

Behind  the  cathedral,  with  a  tall  mediaeval  tower  on  either 


MADONNA  DI  GALLIERA,  P.  FA  VA.  259 

side,  is  the  handsome  Palazzo  Arcivescovile,  built  by  Pel- 
legrino  Tibaldi,  1577,  and  adorned  by  modern  artists. 

A  little  to  the  left,  beyond  the  Duomo,  is  the  Church  of 
La  Madonna  di  Galliera,  which  has  a  beautiful  unfinished 
fagade  of  terra-cotta  of  1470,  though  the  church  itself  was 
built  by  Giov.  Bait.  Torri  in  1689,     It  contains  : — 

Left,  \st  Chapel.     Guercino.     The  Ecstasy  of  S.  Filippo  Neri. 

2nd  Chapel.  Albani.  A  very  lovely  picture.  "The  presentiment 
of  the  Passion  is  expressed  by  the  child  Christ  looking  up  with  emotion 
at  the  cherubs  floating  above  with  the  instruments  of  martyrdom  (like 
playthings)  ;  at  the  foot  of  the  steps  are  Mary  and  Joseph  ;  above,  God 
the  Father,  sad  and  calm." — Burckhardt. 

The  oil  lunettes  of  Adam  and  Eve  and  the  decorations  of  the  roof 
are  also  by  Albani. 

^h  Chapel.      Teresa  Muratori.     The  Incredulity  of  S.  Thomas. 

Opposite  this  church  is  the  Palazzo  Fava  (No.  591), 
which  has  a  handsome  court-yard,  and  is  richly  adorned 
with  the  works  of  the  Caracci.  The  great  hall  is  decorated 
with  the  story  of  Jason,  the  first  work  in  fresco  by  Agostino 
and  Afinibale.  In  the  adjoining  chamber  the  voyage  of 
^neas  is  described  by  Lodovico.  The  next  room  is  painted 
by  Albani,  with  a  continuation  of  the  yEneid.  In  the 
following  room  the  same  artist  was  the  assistant  of  Lucio 
Mazzari.  The  story  of  the  Rape  of  Europa,  in  a  small 
chamber,  is  by  Annibale  Caracci.  The  history  of  ^neas, 
painted  in  opposition  to  a  frieze  by  Cesi,  in  the  same 
chamber,  was  the  turning-point  in  the  history  of  the  Caracci. 
Then,  as  Lanzi  says,  "  Bologna  at  length  prepared  to  do 
justice  to  the  worth  of  that  divine  artist  Lodovico." 

Behind  the  church  is  the  Palazzo  Piella  (formerly  Bocchi), 
built  by  Vignola  for  Achille  Bocchi,  the  founder  of  the 
Academy.     It  has  a  ceiling  by  Prospero  Fontana. 

Returning  to  and  following  the  Mercato  di  Mezzo,  be- 


26o  '      ITALIAN  CITIES. 

tween  the  Palazzo  Podestk  and  the  Cathedral,  we  soon  reach 
the  twin  Leaning  Towers.     Of  these — 

The  Torre  degli  Asinelli  derives  its  name  from  Gherardo 
degli  Asinelli,  by  whom  it  was  begun  in  1109.  It  is  292! 
feet  high,  and  its  inclination  is  as  much  as  3  ft.  4  in.  from 
the  centre  of  gravity.  It  can  easily  be  ascended,  and  pos- 
sesses a  fine  view.  Its  neighbour  La  Garisenda,  built  about 
the  same  time,  by  the  brothers  Filippo  and  Oddo  Garisendi, 
is  only  130  feet  high,  but  leans  8  feet  from  the  perpendicular 
to  the  south,  and  3  feet  to  the  east.  Dante  compares  the 
giant  Antaeus  bending  to  lift  him  down  into  the  depths  of 
Inferno  to  this — 

"Qual  pare  a  rigiiardar  la  Garisenda 

Sotto  il  chinato,  quando  un  nuvol  vada 
Sovr'  essa  si,  ch'ella  in  contrario  penda  ; 
Tal  parve  Anteo  a  mea  che  stava  bada 
Di  vederlo  chinare,  e  fu  talora 
Ch'io  avrei  voluto  ir  per  altra  strada." — Inf.  xxxi. 

"  Pour  rendre  sensible  le  mouvement  formidable  du  colosse  s'abais- 
sant  ainsi  vers  les  profondeurs  de  I'enfer,  le  poete  a  fait,  comme  en  tant 
d'autres  endroits  de  son  poeme,  un  eniprunt  k  la  realite  physique  :  il  a 
pris  pour  objet  de  comparison  un  objet  determine,  un  monument  celebre 
en  Italie,  la  tour  de  la  Garisenda ;  il  compare  done  1' impression  produite 
sur  lui  par  le  geant  qui  se  penche,  a  I'efFet  qu'un  nuage,  passant  au- 
dessus  de  cette  tour  et  venant  du  cote  vers  lequel  il  s'incline,  produit 
sur  le  spectateur  place  au-dessous  d'elle.  C'est  alors  la  tour  qui  semble 
s'abaisser  de  toute  la  vitesse  du  nuage. " — Ampire. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  inclination  of  the 
towers  is  the  result  of  an  earthquake,  owing  to  which  Gari- 
senda was  never  completed.  Nevertheless,  the  theory  of 
Goethe  is  very  ingenious  : — 

"The  leaning  tower  has  a  frightful  look,  and  yet  it  is  most  probable 
that  it  was  built  thus  designedly.  This  seems  to  me  an  explanation  of 
the  absurdity.     In  the  troublous  times  of  the  city  every  large  house  was 


■      S.  BARTOLOMMEO  DI  p.  RAVEGNANA.  261 

a  fortress,  and  every  powerful  family  had  a  tower.  Bye  and  bye  the 
very  possession  of  such  a  building  became  a  mark  of  importance  and 
distinction,  and  as  at  last  a  perpendicular  tower  became  a  perfectly  com- 
mon and  every  day  object,  a  leaning  tower  was  built.  Architect  and 
owner  attained  their  object  :  the  mass  of  upright  towers  are  just  glanced 
at,  and  all  hurry  on  to  examine  the  leaning  one. " —  Goethe. 

Garisenda  especially,  having  been  begun  in  rivalry  a  little 
later  than  Asinelli,  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  memorial  of 
architectural  family  pride. 

Behind  the  Towers,  is  the  Church  of  S.  Bartolommeo  di 
Porta  Ravegnana,  of  1653,  with  a  portico  (of  an  earlier 
church)  by  Andrea  Marchesi  (15 16 — 1531).     It  contains; — 

Right,  2nd  Chapel.  Lod.  Caracci.  S.  Carlo  at  the  tomb  at  Varallo, 
with  an  angel. 

•4/A  Chapel.  Albani,  1632.  Annunciation.  By  the  same  artist  are 
the  pictures  of  the  Nativity  and  Joseph's  Dream  at  the  sides  of  the  chapel. 
The  beautiful  figure  of  Gabriel  in  the  Annunciation  is  certainly  a  glorious 
contrast  to  Lod.  Caracci's  conception  of  the  same  subject  in  the  apse  of 
the  cathedral. 

Behind  High-altar.     Franceschini .    Martyrdom  of  S.  Bartholomew. 

The  roof  of  the  nave  is  decorated  by  Colonna  with  pictures  relating 
to  the  Theatins,  to  whom  the  church  formerly  belonged . 

Opposite  the  towers  is  a  beautiful  Palazzo,  with  rich  terra- 
cotta ornaments. 

Close  by,  to  the  right  of  the  Towers,  is  the  Loggia  dei 
Mercanti,  a  beautiful  brick  building  of  1294,  restored  in  1439 
by  the  Bentivoglio  family.  It  is  richly  ornamented  with 
terra-cotta.  The  medallions  between  the  arches  contain 
the  images  of  the  patron  saints,  and  below  the  windows  are 
the  arms  of  the  city  and  of  the  Bentivoglio  family,  who 
ruled  Bologna  during  the  greater  part  of  the  15th  century. 
From  the  canopied  balcony  in  the  centre  sentences  were 
passed,  and  bankruptcies  proclaimed.  Within  the  building 
is  the  Exchange.  The  staircase  is  decorated  with  paintings 
of  the  arms  of  the  ten  city  corporations. 


262 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


Turning  to  the  left,  by  the  Torre  Garisenda,  down  the 
arcades  of  the  Strada  Luigi  Zambari,  formerly  S.  Donato — 


"Strada  S.  Donato." 


which  are  occasionally  wonderfully  picturesque  with  their 
heavy  sculptured  capitals,  and  fragments  of  colour  and 
terra-cotta  work — we  reach,  on  the  right,  the  handsome 
brick  Gothic  Church  of  S.  Gtaco?no  Maggiore,  which  was 
begun  in  1267,  but  afterwards  much  enlarged.  The  beau- 
tiful clock-tower  is  of  1472.  The  cloistered  walk  with  its 
34  arches  towards  the  street  is  hy  Fra  Giovanni  Faci,  1477. 
The  pillars  of  the  doorway  rest  upon  lions ;  on  either  side 
are  arched  recesses  for  tombs. 


^.   GIACOMO  MAGGIORE.  263 

Right  Aisle,  1st  Chapel.  "La  Madonna  della  Cintura,"  an  ancient 
fresco. 

^th  Chapel.     Ercole  Procaccini.     The  Conversion  of  S.  Paul. 

5//^  Chapel.  Giacomo  Cavedone.  Christ  appearing  to  Giov.  de  S. 
Facondo. 

bth  Chapel.  Bart.  Passarotti.  Madonna  enthroned,  surrounded  by 
saints  and  donors. 

"Jth  Chapel.     Prospero  Fontana.     S.  Alexis  giving  alms. 

*Zth  Chapel.  Innocenza  da  Imola.  Marriage  of  S.  Catherine — her 
wheel  is  broken  in  the  foreground  ;  noble  figures  of  saints  stand  at  the 
sides.     The  Nativity  is  represented  in  the  gradino. 

"  One  of  the  greatest  and  most  characteristic,  perhaps  the  most  beau- 
tiful picture  of  the  master,  of  most  praise-worthy  solidity  of  execution 
for  the  year  of  its  production,  1536. — Miindler. 

loth  Chapel.  Lod.  Caracci.  S.  Roch  comforted  by  an  angel  while 
sick  of  the  plague. 

ilth  Chapel.  Lor.  Sabbatini  and  Dionys.  Calvaert.  S.  Michael 
tramples  on  Satan,  and  weighs  souls  in  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Family. 

I2th  Chapel  (of  the  Poggi  Family),  built  and  painted  by  Pellegrino 
Tibaldi.  (The  altar-piece  of  the  Baptism  of  our  Lord  and  the  com- 
partments of  the  roof  are  by  Prospero  Fontana. ) 

"  Pellegrino  Tibaldi  (1527 — 1591)  was  recognized  by  the  Caracci  as 
the  true  representative  of  the  transition  from  the  great  masters  to  their 
own  epoch.  His  large  fresco  in  S.  Giacomo  is  almost  gi-and  in  its  real- 
ization of  an  important  symbolical  idea — '  Many  are  called,  but  few  are 
chosen. ' 

"  The  Caracci  bestowed  the  highest  praises  on  these  works  of  Tibaldi, 
and  it  was  on  these  that  they  and  their  pupils  bestowed  most  study.  In 
the  one  fresco  is  represented  the  preaching  of  S.  John  in  the  desert ;  in 
the  other  the  separation  of  the  elect  from  the  wicked,  where,  in  the 
features  of  the  celestial  messenger  announcing  the  tidings,  Pellegrino 
has  displayed  those  of  his  favourite,  Michael  Angelo.  What  a  school 
for  design  and  expression  is  here  !  What  art  in  the  distribution  of  such 
a  throng  of  figures,  in  varying  and  in  grouping  them. " — Lanzi. 

iT,th  Chapel.  Dion.  Calvaert.  Madonna  in  glory,  with  SS.  Lucy  and 
Catherine  and  the  Beato  Ranieri  beneath. 

i^th  Chapel.  Jacopo  Avanzi.  The  Coronation  of  the  Virgin,  the 
central  compartment  of  a  large  altar-piece.  On  the  left  wall  is  a  Crucifix 
by  Sitnone  da  Bologna,  1 370. 

*i2>th  Chapel  (of  the  Bentivogli).  Francesco  Francia.  The  Ma- 
donna and  Child  with  angels  and  saints — one  of  the  loveliest  works  of 
the  master. 


264  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

"Francia  produced  his  first  picture  in  the  year  1490,  when  he  had 
already  attained  his  fortieth  year.  This  first  essay  was  considered  a 
master-piece,  and  the  artist  was  immediately  employed  to  paint  a  Ma- 
donna, with  all  the  accessory  details,  in  the  chapel  of  Giovanni  Benti- 
voglio.  Here  he  so  far  surpassed  the  hopes  his  countrymen  had 
entertained  of  him,  that  they  began  to  look  upon  him  as  something 
superhuman,  and  proudly  opposed  him  to  the  leaders  of  the  rival 
schools." — Rio. 

"  This  picture  was  so  admirably  painted  by  Francia,  that  he  not  only 
received  many  praises  from  Messer  Giovanni,  but  also  a  very  handsome 
and  most  honourable  gift." — Vasari. 

"In  1490  Francesco  Francia  was  employed  by  Gio.  Bentivoglio  to 
paint  the  altar-piece  of  his  chapel,  where  he  signed  himself  '  Franciscus 
Francia  Aurifex,'  as  if  to  imply  that  he  belonged  to  the  goldsmith's  art, 
not  to  that  of  painting.  Nevertheless,  that  work  is  a  beautiful  specimen, 
displaying  the  most  finished  delicacy  of  art  in  every  figure  and  orna- 
ment, especially  in  the  arabesque  pilasters,  in  the  Mantegna  manner." 
— Lanzi. 

The  lunette  above,  an  "  Ecce  Homo,"  is  also  by  Francia.  Another 
lunette,  a  vision  from  the  Revelations,  is  by  Lorenzo  Costa,  as  well  as 
the  picture  (of  1488)  on  the  right  wall  of  Gio.  Bentivoglio  and  his 
Family  in  adoration  before  the  Vii^in,  and  the  two  curious  alle- 
gorical processions  on  the  left  wall.  The  relief  of  Annibale  Benti- 
voglio (ob.  1458)  on  horseback  is  by  Niccolo  ddP  Area.  The  bas-relief 
of  Giov.  Bentivoglio  is  attributed  to  Francia.  Outside  the  chapel  on  the 
choir  is  the  tomb,  attributed  to  Jacopo  della  Quereia,  of  Antonio  Benti- 
voglio, who  was  beheaded  in  1435.  Near  it  is  the  very  interesting 
tomb  of  Niccolo  Fava,  a  famous  professor  of  medicine  in  the  15th  cen- 
tury ;  he  is  represented  above  in  death,  and  below  lecturing  to  his  atten- 
tive pupils. 

Near  the  24th  chapel,  by  a  side  door,  is  a  Madonna  in  fresco  re- 
moved from  the  ancient  palace  of  the  Bentivogli. 

The  custode  of  S.  Giacomo  has  the  keys  of  the  adjoining 
Church  of  S.  Cecilia,  built  1481  by  Gaspare  Nadi  for  the 
famous  Giovanni  11.  Bentivoglio.  It  was  famous  for  its 
frescoes  of  the  school  of  the  Francias,  which  were  sadly 
mutilated  during  the  French  occupation.  They  are  still, 
however,  worthy  of  examination,  as  follows  : — 


S.   CECILIA.  265 

1.  Francesco  Francia.     The  marriage  of  Cecilia  and  Valerian. 

2.  Lorenzo  Costa.     Pope  Urban  instructs  Valerian  in  the  Christian 

faith. 

3.  Giacomo  Francia.     The  Baptism  of  Valerian. 

4.  Chiodarolo.     An  angel  crowns  Valerian  and  Cecilia  with  roses. 

5.  Amico  Aspertini.     The  Martyrdom  of  Valerian  and  his  brother 

Tiburtius. 

6.  Id.     Their  Burial. 

7.  Id.     S.  Cecilia  before  the  Prefect. 

8.  Giacomo  Francia.     S.  Cecilia  condemned  to  the  boiling  bath. 

9.  Lor.    Costa.     Having  survived  the  bath,  Cecilia  distributes  her 

wealth  to  the  poor. 
10.  Francesco  Francia.     The  Burial  of  Cecilia. 

"The  composition  in  these  works  is  extremely  simple,  without  any 
superfluous  accessory  figures  :  the  particular  moments  of  action  are  con- 
ceived and  developed  in  an  excellent  dramatic  style.  We  have  here  the 
most  noble  figures,  the  most  beautiful  and  graceful  heads,  an  intelligible 
arrangement  and  pure  taste  in  the  drapery,  and  masterly  landscape 
backgrounds. " — Kiigler. 

"  The  most  celebrated  ef  Francia's  pupils  were  collected  round  him 
when  he  worked  at  the  chapel  of  S.  Cecilia,  but  only  three  among  them 
appear  to  have  assisted  in  the  execution  of  these  frescoes,  still  so  beau- 
tiful, in  spite  of  the  injuries  they  have  sustained,  and  which  are,  for  the 
school  of  Francia,  what  the  Loggia  of  the  Vatican  is  for  that  of 
Raffaelle." — Rio,  Poetry  of  Christian  Art. 

Close  to  S.  Giacomo  is  the  Liceo  Rossini,  which  has  a 
magnificent  musical  library  worthy  of  the  musical  reputation 
of  Bologna.  Near  this,  is  the  Casa  Lambertini,  in  which 
Pope  Benedict  XIV.  was  born,  with  the  inscription  : — 

"  Parva  domus  Benedictum  excepit  matris  ab  alvo 
Magnum  parva  cui  maxima  Roma  fuit." 

Opposite  S.  Giacomo,  is  the  Palazzo  Malvezzi-Campeggio, 
remarkable  as  containing  some  tapestries  given  by  Henry 
VIII.  to  Cardinal  Campeggio,  when  papal  legate  in  England. 

A  little  behind  this,  marked  by  the  pillar  in  its  piazza,  is 
the  Gothic  Church  of  S.  Martino,  built  by  the  Carmelites 


z66  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

in  the  14th  century,  but  much  modernized  externally.     It 
contains : — 

Right,  1st  Chapel.  Girolamo  de"  Carpi.  The  Adoration  of  the 
Shepherds. 

yh  Chapel.  Amico  Aspertini.  The  Virgin  and  Child  with  saints — 
girls  receiving  their  dowries. 

^th  Chapel.     Gir.  Sicciolante.     Virgin  and  Child  with  saints. 

%th  Chapel.  Perugino  ?  Assumption,  with  the  Apostles  at  the  empty 
tomb. 

<jth  Chapel.     Lod.  Caracci.     S.  Jerome. 

\Oth  Chapel.      Cesi.     The  Crucifixion. 

The  Cloister  is  rich  in  interesting  monuments.  That  (on  the  right 
wall)  of  a  professor  of  the  Saliceti  family  (1403)  lecturing,  is  attributed 
to  Andrea  de  Fiesole.  Near  it  is  a  similar  tomb  to  Professor  Fabio 
Renucci,  of  1610,  most  powerful  and  expressive.  On  the  same  wall  is 
an  interesting  monument  of  a  young  knight,  with  the  names  of  the  bat- 
tles in  which  he  fought.  A  monument  on  the  next  wall  encloses  a  fine 
fragment  of  fresco — the  head  of  Christ. 

Returning  to  the  Strada  S.  Donato,  the  quaint  tower 
on  the  right  is  that  of  The  University^  which  was  founded 
in  1 1 19,  by  a  Professor  of  Law  named  Irnerius.  In 
the  13th  century  it  assembled  as  many  as  10,000  stu- 
dents. The  University  was  moved  here  (to  the  ancient 
Palazzo  Poggi)  in  171 1,  from  the  "Antico  Archigin- 
nasio  "  near  S.  Petronio.  One  of  its  remarkable  features 
has  been  the  number  of  its  distinguished  female  pro- 
fessors, of  whom  was  Novella  d' Andrea  in  the  14th 
century,  whose  beauty  was  so  great  that  she  was  made  to 
lecture  from  behind  a  curtain,  in  order  that  the  attention  of 
the  students  might  not  be  distracted  by  her  charms.  In 
later  times  Laura  Bassi  was  Professor  of  Mathematics  and 
Natural  Philosophy,  Madonna  Manzolina  was  Professor  of 
Anatomy,  and  (early  in  the  present  century)  the  beautiful 
and  saintly  Clotilda  Tambroni  was  Professor  of  Greek. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  BOLOGNA.  267 

"  The  honours,  titles,  and  privileges  conferred  upon  this  University 
by  kings  and  emperors,  by  synods  and  pontiffs,  the  deference  paid  to  its 
opinions,  and  the  reverence  that  waited  upon  its  graduates,  prove  the  high 
estimation  in  which  it  was  once  held  ;  and  the  names  of  Gratian  and  Aldro- 
vandus,  of  Malpighi  and  Guglielmini,  of  Ferres  and  Cassini,  are  alone 
sufficient  to  show  that  this  high  estimation  was  not  unmerited. " — Eustace. 

The  University  possesses  (on  the  ground-floor)  a  small 
collection  of  antiquities  Egyptian  and  Etruscan,  the  gem  of 
the  latter  being  a  very  beautiful  Patera  from  Arezzo  repre- 
senting the  birth  of  Minerva.  At  the  end  of  the  last  hall, 
between  fine  bronze  busts  of  Gregory  XIV.  and  XV.',  is  a 
most  extraordinary  statue  of  Boniface  VIII. 

"The  colossal  statue  of  Boniface  VIII.  is  made  of  beaten  plates  of 
metal  fastened  together  with  nails.  It  is  the  work  of  a  native  goldsmith 
and  painter  named  Manno,  and  was  erected  to  the  pope  during  his  life- 
time by  the  Bolognese,  out  of  gratitude  for  a  decision  he  had  given 
against  the  Modenese  in  a  dispute  between  them  concerning  the  castles 
of  Bazzano  and  Savignano.  The  eyes  are  staring  and  inexpressive  ;  the 
head  is  covered  with  a  plain  mitre  ;  and  the  stiff  figure  is  robed  in  a  long 
vestment,  with  a  short  cape  falling  over  the  shoulders ;  one  hand  rests 
upon  the  heart,  and  the  fingers  of  the  other  are  bent  in  sign  of  benedic- 
tion."— Perkins'  Italian  Sculptors. 

In  the  fine  Library,  the  famous  Giuseppe  Mezzofanti 
(born  1776),  whose  father  was  a  small  shopkeeper  in 
Bologna,  began  his  career  as  librarian.  In  his  35th  year 
he  spoke  18  languages  fluently,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death 
as  many  as  42.  He  was  made  Cardinal  in  1837  by  Gregory 
XVI.,  and  died  at  Naples  in  1849.  The  Library  of  Mezzo- 
fanti, sold  after  his  death,  was  purchased  by  Pope  Pius  IX., 
and  presented  to  the  University.  It  occupies  the  last  room 
of  the  suite.  In  the  Reading  Room  are  a  number  of  por- 
traits, including  that  of  Clotilda  Tambroni.  In  the  corridor 
are  monuments  to  Morgagnio  the  Anatomist,  and  Galvano 
the  inventor  of  Galvanism.  The  University  now  possesses 
48  professors  and  about  400  students. 


268  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

On  the  left,  a  few  steps  down  the  Borgo  della  Paglia 
(No.  i),  is  the  entrance  of  the  Accademia  delle  Belle  Arti, 
containing  the  Picture  Gallery,  which  is  open  daily  free 
(Sundays  included)  from  9  to  3.  The  pictures  are  not  num- 
bered as  they  are  hung,  but  occur  in  the  order  described 
here.     Visitors  ring.     The  catalogue  (ij  fr.)  is  useless. 

From  the  entrance  corridor,  it  is  necessary  to  turn  first  to 
the  left,  to  take  the  Schools  in  their  order.    We  then  find — 

2nd  Hall  (or  Corridor). — 

64,   Francesco  Cossa  da  Ferrara  (1474).     Madonna  with  SS.  Peter 
and  John. 

"An  excellent  work,  though  the  heads  are  wanting  in  charm." — 
Burckhardt. 

145.  Jac.  Tintoretto.     The  Visitation. 

33.  Lod.  Caracci.     S.  Roch. 

30.  Ann.  Caracci.     The  Assumption. 
141.    Guido  Reni.     Coronation  of  the  Virgin. 

292.  {over  door)  Innocenzo  da   Imola.     Madonna  with  SS.   Francis 
and  Clara. 

"Freely  executed  in  the  Raphaelesque  spirit." — Burckhardt. 

^rd  Hall  (containing  a  curious  collection  of  early  pictures, 
chiefly  by  Bolognese  masters). — 

102.  Giotto.     An  Ancona,  originally  in  four  divisions,  with  the  figures 

of  SS.   Peter  and  Paul,   Michael  and  Gabriel.     (The  central 

compartment  is  at  Milan.) 
205.  Ant.  e  Bart.    Vivarini  da  Murano,  1450.     Madonna  and  saints. 

The  ornaments  by  Cristofero  da  Ferrara. 
202.  S.    Caterina   Vigri  (an  Ursuline    nun,    the  only  female  artist 

canonized,  1413 — 1463).     S.  Ursula. 

"Her  pictures  are  of  weak  but  pleasing  expression,  and  may  be 
classed  with  the  better  Sienese  works  of  the  day." — Kiigler. 

109.   Giov.  Martorelli.     Altar-piece  with  Madonna  and  saints. 
36.  Niccolb  Alumno  da  Foligno.  An  altar-piece  painted  on  both  sides 

(1482). 
160.  Jacopo  degli  Avanzi.     The  Bearing  of  the  Cross. 


ACCADEMIA  BELLE  BELLE  ARTE  269 

/^th  Hall. — 

(No  number).    Lorenzo  Costa,  1491.    Throned  Madonna  with  saints. 

*i.  Francesco  Albani  (1599).     Madonna  with  SS.    Catherine  and 

Mary  Magdalene,  painted  by  the  artist  in  his  21st  year. 

275.  An.  Raphael  Mengs.     Pope  Clement  XIII.   (Carlo  Rezzonico). 

"  Grander,  truer,  and  less  pretentious  than  any  Italian  portrait  of  the 

1 8th  century. ' ' — Burckhardt, 

61.  Cima  da  Conegliano.     Madonna  with  God  the  Father  above. 
Giuliano  Bugiardini  (1481^1556).     Madonna. 
♦83.  Francesco  Francia.     The  dead  Christ  supported  by  two  angels. 
116.  Parmigianino.     Madonna  and  Child  with  saints. 

5///  Hall  (the  masterpieces  of  the  Bolognese  School). — ■ 
*I35.    Guido  Rent.     The  Massacre  of  the  Innocents. 

"A  very  celebrated  picture.  The  female  figures  are  beautiful,  and 
the  composition  is  very  animated,  but  the  feeling  for  mere  abstract 
beauty  is  here  very  apparent." — Kiigler. 

"Guido  personified  hardness  in  the  executioners,  but  not  bestial 
ferocity  ;  he  softened  the  grimace  of  lamentation,  and  even  by  beautiful 
truly  architectonic  arrangement,  and  by  nobly-formed  figures,  elevated 
the  horrible  into  the  tragic  ;  he  produced  this  effect  without  the  access- 
ories of  a  heavenly  glory,  without  the  doubtful  contrast  of  ecstatic  faint- 
ing at  the  horrors  :  his  work  is  certainly  the  most  perfect  composition  of 
the  century  as  to  pathos." — Burckhardt. 

182.  Aless.  Tiarini.     Lamentation  over  the  Dead  Christ. 
138.   Guido  Retti,   1630.     "La  Madonna  del  Rosario,"  seen  above 
the  town  of  Bologna,  with  the  patron  saints  interceding  for 
it.     This  picture,  which  commemorated  the  deliverance  of  the 
town  from  a  pestilence,  was  formerly  in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico, 
and  used  to  be  carried  in  processions. 
13.    Guercino.     S.  Bruno  in  the  Wilderness,  and  his  Vision  of  the 
Virgin. 
*I37.   Guido  Reni.     The  Triumph  of  Samson  after  having  vanquished 
the  Philistines.     Painted  to  go  over  a  chimney-piece  (whence 
the  form)  for  Cardinal  Ludovisi-Buoncompagni,  Archbishop  of 
Bologna,  who  bequeathed  it  to  the  town. 
12.   Guertino  (1620).    S.  William,  Duke  of  Aquitaine,  receiving  the 
habit   of  a  monk   from  S.    Felix.     From  the  church  of  S. 
Gregorio. 
♦136.    Guido  Reni.     The  Crucifixion. 


270  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

"The  Madonna  and  S.  John  are  beside  the  Cross;  the  Virgin  is  a 
figure  of  solemn  beauty  ;  one  of  Guido's  finest  and  most  dignified  crea- 
tions."— Kiigler. 

208.  Dommkhino.  Death  of  S.  Peter  Martyr.  Painted  for  two  nuns 
of  the  Spada  family,  for  the  convent  of  "  Le  Monache  Do- 
minicane."     "  It  is  only  a  new  edition  of  the  work  of  Titian." 

*I34.  Guido  Reni  (1616).  "La  Madonna  della  Pieta,"  with  two 
angels  bewailing  the  dead  Christ.  Below  are  SS.  Petronio, 
Domenico,  Carlo  Borromeo,  Francis,  and  Proculus,  with  the 
town  of  Bologna. 

♦140.   Id.     S.  Sebastian  bound  to  a  cypress-tree. 

"  Le  S.  Sebastien  n'est  qu'ebauche,  et  cependant  il  a  toute  son  ex- 
pression de  douleur  et  de  sacrifice. " —  Valery. 

*I39.  Id.  S.  Andrea  Corsini,  Bishop  of  Fiesole  (ob.  1373).  In  the 
right  hand,  which  is  gloved,  he  holds  his  pastoral  staff,  in  the 
left  a  copy  of  the  Scriptures, 

dth  Hall— 

84.   Giacomo  Francia  (son  of  Francesco),  1526.     Madonna  with  SS. 

Francis,  Bernard,  Sebastian,  and  George. 
122.  Niccolbda  Cremona  (15 18).     The  Deposition  from  the  Cross. 

"  *78.  Francesco  Francia  (1494).  Madonna  with  the  Baptist,  SS. 
Augustine  and  Monica,  SS.  Francis,  Proculus,  and  Sebastian, 
and  the  donor — Bartolomeo  Felicini ;  most  exquisite  in  colour 
and  expression. 

•197.  Pietro  Perugino.  Madonna  in  glory,  with  SS.  Michael,  Cath- 
erine, Apollonia,  and  John  (in  old  age)  beneath  ;  formerly  in 
theCappellaVizzani  in  S.  Giovanni  in  Monte.  Signed  "  Pe- 
trus  Peruginus  pinxit." 
79.  F.  Francia.  Annunciation.  The  Virgin  receives  the  message 
standing  between  the  Baptist  and  S.  Jerome. 

*204.  Timoteo  della  Vite,  1 508.  (The  favourite  and  son-like  pupil  of 
Francia.)  The  Magdalen  in  the  Wilderness,  from  the  cathe- 
dral of  Urbino. 

"The  Magdalen  stands  in  a  cave  clothed  in  a  red  mantle  ;  her  hair 
flows  to  her  feet,  as  she  leans  her  head  giacefully  towards  her  left 
shoulder.  This  picture,  though  in  the  old  manner,  is  extremely  well 
executed  ;  the  drapery  falls  in  large  and  beautiful  folds :  the  painting 
is  soft  and  warm,  and  the  expression  of  the  countenance  full  of  feeling." 
—Kiigler. 


ACCADEMIA  DELLE  BELLE  ARTL  271 

"  A  mysteriously  attractive  figure." — Burckhardt. 

"  The  Magdalen  is  standing  before  the  entrance  of  her  cavern,  array- 
ed in  a  crimson  mantle  ;  her  long  hair  is  seen  beneath  descending  to 
her  feet  ;  the  hands  joined  in  prayer,  the  head  declined  on  one  side,  and 
the  whole  expression  that  of  girlish  innocence  and  simplicity,  with  a 
touch  of  the  pathetic.  A  mendicant,  not  a  Magdalen,  is  the  idea  sug- 
gested ;  and,  for  myself,  I  confess  that  at  the  first  glance  I  was  reminded 
of  the  little  Red-Riding-Hood,  and  could  think  of  no  sin  that  could 
*have  been  attributed  to  such  a  face  and  figure,  beyond  the  breaking  of 
a  pot  of  butter ;  yet  the  picture  is  very  beautiful." — Jameson'' s  Saa-ed 
Art. 

89.  Innocenzo  da  Imola,  1517.     Madonna  in  glory  with  angels.     S. 

Michael  subdues  Satan  beneath. 
198.   Giorgio  Vasari,  1 540.      The  Supper  of  S.   Gregory,    in  which 
our  Saviour  appeared  as  the  thirteenth  guest. 

80.  Francesco  Francia,     Madonna  and  saints. 

26.  Gugl.  Bugiardini.  Marriage  of  S.  Catherine. 
*I52.  Rafaelle.  S.  Cecilia  in  ecstasy,  surrounded  by  SS.  Paul, 
John  the  Evangelist,  Augustine,  and  Mary  Magdalen.  In 
listening  to  the  heavenly  choir,  the  saint  has  dropped  her 
earthly  instruments  of  music,  which  lie  broken  at  her  feet. — 
Painted  for  the  Bentivoglio  chapel  at  S.  Giovanni  in  Monte. 

"  All  are  listening  to  the  choir  of  angels  only  indicated  in  the  air 
above.  Raphael  gave  song  to  this  wonderfully  improvised  upper  group, 
whose  victory  over  instruments  is  here  substituted  for  the  conquest, 
itself  impossible  to  represent,  of  heavenly  tone  over  the  earthly,  with  a 
symbolism  worthy  of  all  admiration.  Cecilia  is  wisely  represented  as  a 
rich  and  physically-powerful  being  ;  only  thus  (not,  e.  g.  as  a  nervous  in- 
teresting being'l  could  she  give  the  impression  of  full  happiness  without 
excitement.  Her  regal  dress  also  is  essential  for  the  desired  object, 
and  increases  the  impression  of  complete  absorption  in  calm  delight.  Paul, 
inwardly  moved,  leans  on  his  sword  :  the  folded  paper  in  his  hand  in- 
dicates that  in  the  presence  of  the  heavenly  harmonies  the  written  re- 
velation also  must  be  silent,  as  something  that  has  been  fulfilled.  John, 
in  whispered  conversation  with  S.  Augustine,  both  listening,  variously 
affected.  The  Magdalen  is,  to  speak  openly,  made  unsympathetic,  in 
order  to  make  the  beholder  rightly  conscious  of  the  delicate  scale  of 
expression  in  the  four  others  ;  for  the  rest,  one  of  the  grandest,  most 
beautiful  figures  of  Raphael.  The  true  limits  within  which  the  inspira- 
tion of  several  different  personages  has  to  be  represented,  are  in  this 


272  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

picture  preserved  with  a  tact  which  is  entirely  strange  to  the  latest 
painters  of  the  Feast  of  Pentecost. " — Burckhardt. 

"  There  appears  in  the  expression  throughout  this  simply-arranged 
group  a  progressive  sympathy,  of  which  the  revelation  made  to  S.  Cecilia 
forms  the  central  point." — Kuglei-. 

"S.  Cecilia  is  listening  in  ecstasy  to  the  songs  of  the  celestial  choir, 
as  their  voices  reach  her  ear  from  heaven  itself.  Wholly  given  up  to 
the  celestial  harmony,  the  countenance  of  the  saint  affords  full  evidence 
of  her  abstraction  from  the  things  of  earth,  and  wears  that  rapt  expres- 
sion which  is  wont  to  be  seen  upon  the  faces  of  those  who  are  in  ecstasy. 
Musical  instruments  lie  scattered  around  her,  and  these  do  not  seem  to 
be  merely  painted,  but  might  be  taken  for  the  objects  they  represent. 
...  It  may  indeed  with  truth  be  declared  that  the  paintings  of  other 
masters  are  properly  to  be  called  paintings,  but  those  of  Raphael  may 
well  be  described  as  the  life  itself,  for  the  flesh  trembles,  the  breathing 
is  made  obvious  to  sight,  the  pulses  of  his  figures  beat,  and  life  is  in  its 
utmost  animation  through  all  his  works. " —  Vasari.  * 

133.  Bart.  Ranunghi  (Bagnacavallo)  (1484 — 1542).  A  pupil  of 
Francia  and  Raphael.  Holy  Family  with  saints — a  very  lovely 
picture. 

*65.  Lorenzo  Costa.   S.  Petronio,  S.  Francis,  and  S.  Thomas  Aquinas 

— magnificent  colour  on  a  gold  ground. 
81.  Francesco  Francia  (1499).  The  child  Jesus  with  the  Madonna, 
SS.  Augustin,  Joseph,  and  Francis,  also  the  portraits  of  the 
Protonotary,  Mgr.  Antonio  Galeazzo  Bentivoglio,  and  of  the 
poet  Girolamo  dei  Pandolfi  di  Casio.  Painted  for  the  church 
of  the  Misericordia  and  known  as  "  the  Bentivoglio  Madonna." 

lOb.   Girolamo  da  Cotignola.     Marriage  of  the  Virgin. 

•*  His  master-piece,  inspired  indeed  not  by  his  father,  but  by  the 
Venetians,  and  therefore  free  from  sentimentality." — Burckliardt. 

']th  Hall  (works  of  the  Caracci  and  their  scholars). — 

45.  Lod.  Caracci  (1597).  The  Birth  of  the  Baptist.  The  portrait 
of  Monsignor  Ratta  is  introduced,  who  gave  the  picture  to  the 
Monastery  of  S.  John  Baptist. 

♦  The  story  told  by  Vasari  that  Francia  died  of  envy  on  seeing  this  picture  is 
utterly  false.  Francia  survived  Raphael  10  years,  and  regarded  him  with  unmixed 
respect  and  affection.  They  were  correspondents,  and  presented  each  other  with 
their  portraits.  When  Francia  suffered  severely  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Bentivoglio 
family,  Raphael  wrote  imploring  him  to  take  courage,  and  a:>suring  him  that  he  felt 
his  affliction  as  his  own. 


AC  CAD  EMI  A  DELLE  ARTI.  273 

*'  A  resolute,  grand  picture." — Burckhardt, 

183.  Aless.  Tiarim  {iS77~i66S)      Marriage  of  S.  Catherine. 

"  SS.  Margaret  and  Barbara  also  assist  at  the  ceremony.  The  good 
Joseph  in  the  mean  time  converses  in  the  foreground  with  the  three  little 
messengers  who  have  in  charge  the  wheel  of  S.  Catherine,  the  dragon 
of  S.  Margaret,  and  the  little  tower  of  S.  Barbara." — Burckhardt. 

34.  Agost.  Caracci.  The  Communion  of  S.  Jerome.  The  most  im- 
portant picture  by  Agostino  (whose  works  are  rare)  in  the 
Gallery. 

46.  Lod.  Caracci  (1602).     Preaching  of  the  Baptist. 

207.   Domenichino.     Madonna  dell  Rosario.     From  this  the  famous 

Domenichino  at  the  Vatican  is  evidently  in   great   measure 

taken.     Pope  Honorius  III.  kneels  amongst  the  figures  in  the 

foreground.     From  the  Ratta  chapel  at  S.  Giovanni  in  Monte. 

"The  Madonna  del  Rosario  is  seated  in  glory,  and  in  her  lap  the 
Divine  Infant  ;  both  scatter  roses  on  the  earth  from  a  vase  sustained  by 
three  lovely  cherubs.  At  the  feet  of  the  Virgin  kneels  S.  Domenic, 
holding  in  one  hand  the  rosary  ;  with  the  other  he  points  to  the  Virgin, 
indicating  by  what  means  she  is  to  be  propitiated.  Angels  holding  the 
symbols  of  the  '  Mysteries  of  the  Rosary '  (the  joys  and  sorrows  of  the 
Virgin),  surround  the  celestial  personages.  On  the  earth,  below,  are 
various  groups,  expressing  the  ages,  conditions,  calamities,  and  neces- 
sities of  human  life  : — lovely  children  playing  with  a  crown  ;  virgins 
attacked  by  a  fierce  warrior,  representing  oppressed  maidenhood  ;  a  man 
and  his  consort,  representing  the  pains  and  cares  of  marriage,  &c 
And  all  these  with  rosaries  in  their  hands  are  supposed  to  obtain  aid, 
'  per  I'intercessione  del'  santissimo  Rosario.' " — yamesoti's  Monastic 
Orders. 

55.  Giacomo    Cavedoni   (1580 — 1668).      Madonna    in    glory,    with 

kneeling  saints. 
47.  Lod.   Caraccu      The  Calling  of  S.  Matthew.     Painted  for  the 

chapel  of  the  Corporation  of  Meat-Salters. 
37.   Ann.  Caracci,  1593.      Madonna  and  saints. 
2.  Francesco  Albani.     The  Baptism  of  Christ,  with  God  the  Father 

in  glory.     From  the  church  of  S.  Giorgio. 

' '  On  looking  at  the  angels  in  this  picture,  one  remembers  involun- 
tarily, how,  in  mediaeval  pictures,  the  angels  who  hold  up  drapery  have 
still  time  and  feeling  to  spare  for  adoration." — Burckhardt. 

^z.  Lod.  Caracci,  1558.     Madonna  with  saints  and  angels. 
VOL.    II.  18 


274  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

•206.  Domenichino.     Martyrdom  of  S.  Agnes, 

Lanzi  mentions  that  Guido,  the  rival  of  Domenichino,  valued  this 
picture  above  the  works  of  Raphael.  It  was  painted  for  the  Convent 
of  S.  Agnes,  where  it  remained  till  1796.  The  famous  group  of  the 
mother  and  terrified  child  is  introduced  here  on  the  right  as  at  S. 
Gregorio  at  Rome. 

' '  The  stabbing  on  the  pile  of  wood,  makes  the  harshest  possible  con- 
trast with  all  the  violin-playing,  flute-blowing,  and  harping  of  the 
angelic  group  above." — Burckhardt. 

36,  Ann.  Caracci.    Madonna  and  Child  in  glory,  with  saints  below. 

From  the  high  altar  of  SS.  Ludovico  ed  Alessio.     The   S. 

Roch  is  a  magnificent  figure. 
35.  Agostino  Caracci.     Assumption. 
47.  Lod.  Caracci,  1607.     Conversion  of  S.  Paul. 
43.  ~Id.  1593.     The  Transfiguration. 

Wl  If  all.— 

172.    Giov.  Andrea  Sirani.     The  Presentation  of  the  Virgin  in  the 
Temple. 
75.    Lavinia  Fontana,    1590.      S.  Francesco  di  Paula  blesses  the 
infant  son  of  the  Duchess  of  Savoy. 
175.  Eliz.  Sirani,  1662.     S.  Antony  of  Padua  kneeling  at  the  feet 
of  the  Infant  Saviour. 
88.  F.  Francia.     Small  pictures  from  the  Life  of  Christ. 

"The  Virgin  is  represented  in  a  vast  and  sublime  landscape,  which 
for  the  pastoral  poetry  it  contains  equals,  if  it  does  not  surpass,  the 
most  celebrated  works  of  the  same  kind  produced  by  other  painters." — 
Rio. 

♦142.   Guido  Reni.     Head  of  Christ.     Study  on  paper  for  the  picture 
in  the  Louvre. 
Guercino.     God  the  Father.      A  study  for  the  Presentation  in  the 

Temple,  in  the  Museum  at  Lyons. 
14.   Guercifw.     The  Death  of  S.  Peter  Martyr. 
3.  Fr.  Albani.     Madonna,  with  saints  and  angels. 

"  Of  Albani  it  has  been  said  that  the  Loves  seem  to  have  mixed  his 
colours,  and  the  Graces  to  have  fashioned  his  forms  ;  such  is  the  soft 
glow  of  his  tints,  such  the  ease  and  beauty  of  his  groups  of  figures.  "— 
Eustace. 

19.   Gttercino.     Magdalen,  half-length. 


^5'.  VITALE  ED  AGRICOLA.  275 

48.    Lod.    Caracci.     Madonna  in  a  glory  of  angels,  standing  on  the 

moon,  with  Jerome  and  Francis  beside  her. 
18.    Guercino.     S.  John,  half-length. 
279.  Dion.  Calvaert.     The  Flagellation. 

74.  Prospero  Fontana.     The  Deposition. 
274.  Francesco  Francia.      Madonna  with  SS.    Bernard,    Anthony, 
John  Baptist,  and  Roch.     Signed  ' '  Francia  Aurifex.  B.  pinxit 
MCCCCC." 

The  annual  exhibition  of  modem  pictures  at  Bologna  is 
generally  one  of  the  best  in  Italy. 

Behind  the  Academy  is  the  Orto  Botanico  e  Agrario,  which 
is  worth  visiting,  as  it  occupies  the  site  of  the  villa  of  Gio- 
vanni II.  Bentivoglio.  The  only  part  of  the  ancient  buildings 
remaining  (now  used  as  a  lecture-room)  is  decorated  with 
frescoes  of  classical  subjects  by  Innocenzo  da  I  viola. 

In  the  Borgo  della  Paglia  is  the  Palazzo  Bentivoglio,  com- 
memorating by  its  name  the  ancient  palace  destroyed  at  the 
instigation  of  Julius  II, 


Returning  to  the  Leaning  Towers,  let  us  now  follow  the 
Strada  S.  Vitale.  On  the  left  is  the  Church  of  SS.  Vitale 
td  Agricola,  on  the  site  of  a  building  said  to  have  been  con- 
secrated by  S.  Petronius  and  S.  Ambrose  in  428.  In 
the  porch  is  a  sarcophagus  by  Alaestro  Rosa  da  Parma,  the 
tomb  of  the  Anatomist  Mondino  de'  Liucci :  it  is  adorned 
with  a  relief  of  the  professor  expounding  to  his  pupils.  The 
church  contains  : — 

Right,  2nd  Cliapel.  Aless.  Tiarini.  Scene  from  the  Flight  into 
Egypt. 

dth  Chapel.     Wrongly  attributed  to  Perugino.     The  Nativity. 

"Jth  Chapel.      Giacorno  Francia  (fresco).     The  Nativity. 

Bagnacavallo  (fresco).     The  Visitation  (with  portraits  of  the  donors). 

%th  Chapel.  Francesco  Francia.  Covering  an  old  picture  of  the 
Madonna. 


276  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  column  with  an  ancient  Cross  in  this  church  once  marked  the 
spot  in  the  street  outside,  where  SS.  Vitale  and  Agricola  were  martyred, 

Opposite'the  church  is  the  Palazzo  Fantuzzi  or  Pedrazzi, 
built  1605,  after  plans  left  by  A.  Marchesi.  At  each  angle 
is  the  crest  of  its  original  owner,  an  elephant  with  a  castle 
on  its  back. 

Returning  to  the  Towers,  and  following  the  Strada  Mag- 
giore,  on  the  left  is  the  Palazzo  Zampieri,  which  formerly 
contained  a  very  fine  collection  of  pictures.  These  have  now 
been  dispersed ;  but  the  ceilings  of  the  five  principal  apart- 
ments are  decorated  with  noble  frescoes,  viz. ; 

1.  Lod.  Caracci.     Jupiter  in  combat  with  Hercules. 

2.  Ann.  Caracci.     Hercules  conducted  by  Virtue. 

3.  Agost  Caracci.     Hercules  and  Atlas. 

4.  Guercino.     Hercules  and  Antseus. 

5.  Id.     Hercules,  the  Genius  of  Power, 

Just  beyond  this  Palazzo  is  the  Casa  Rossini  (No.  243), 
built  by  Rossini  in  1828,  and  adorned  with  Latin  and  Italian 
inscriptions.     In  front  is — from  Cicero — 

"  Non  domo  dominus,  sed  domino  domus." 

On  the  right  is  the  Church  of  S.  Maria  del  Servi,  with 
its  beautiful  Portico  resting  upon  marble  columns,  built  by 
Fra  Andrea  Manfredi  da  Faenza  in  1393.  In  the  lunettes 
under  the  church  wall  are  20  subjects,  illustrative  of  the  life 
of  the  Beato  Filippo  Benizzi,  by  the  later  painters  of  the 
Bologna  school.  The  Church  is  also  from  designs  of 
Manfredi,  and  was  begun  in  1383,     It  contains  : — 

Right,  2nd  Chapel.  Fraitceschini  (painted  in  his  85th  year).  Ma- 
donna giving  the  habit  to  the  seven  founders  of  the  Servites. 

5/A  Chapel.     Dion.  Calvaert,  i6oi.     Paradise. 

\oth  Chapel.  A  marble  pitcher  said  to  have  been  used  at  the  Feast 
of  Cana,  presented  by  Fra.  Vitale  Baccilini,  general  of  the  Servites,  who 
had  been  ambassador  to  the  Sultan  of  Egypt  in  1350. 


5.   GIOVANNI  IN  MONTE.  277 

The  High  Altar  is  by  Giulio  Broi,  1560,  the  figures  of  Adam  and 
Moses  near  it  by  Fra.  Gio  Angiolo  da  Alontorsolo.  At  the  back  of  the 
choir  is  the  slab  tomb  of  the  architect  Manfredi,  ob.  1396. 

2ist  Chapel  (of  S.  Carlo)  is  said  by  tradition  to  have  been  painted  by 
Guido  by  lamplight  in  one  night. 

23^4/  Ckapd.  Imiocmzo  da  Imola.  Annimciation.  The  roof  and 
walls  are  by  Bagnacavallo. 

2$lh  Chapel.  Albaai.  S.  Andrew  adores  the  cross  on  which  he  is 
about  to  suffer.     The  tomb  of  Cardinal  Ulisse  GozzadinL 

2"] th  Chapel.     Albaui.     "  Noli  me  tangere. " 

Opposite  the  Servi  is  the  huge  Palazzo  BargellinL 
Just  beyond  S.  Maria  is  the  Palazzo  Mercolani,  built  at 
the  end  of  the  last  century  by  Ang.    Venturoit,  with  a  fine 
staircase  by   Carlo  Bianconi.     All  its  art-collections  have 
been  dispersed. 

The  next  street  on  the  right,  beyond  this,  leads,  by  the 
closed  Church  of  S.  Cristina,  to  the  Strada  S.  Stefano,  near 
the  Porta  of  that  name,  and  almost  opposite  the  Palazzo  di 
Bianchi,  which  has  a  frescoed  ceiling  by  Guido  Reni  repre- 
senting ^neas  and  the  Harpies.  Adjoining  this  palace  is 
the  Church  of  the  SS.  Trinita,  which  contains  : — 

Right,  2nd  Altar.     Lavinia  Fontana.     Birth  of  the  Virgin. 
High  Altar.     Guercino.     The  Virgin  appearing  to  S.  Roch. 

Turning  towards  the  town,  down  the  Strada  S.  Stefano, 
we  come  (left),  close  to  the  Teatro  del  Corso,  to  the  Church 
of  S.  Giovan?ii  in  Monte,  so  called  from  being  situated  on  a 
slight  rise,  the  highest  ground  in  the  city.  It  was  founded 
by  S,  Petronio,  in  433,  was  rebuilt  in  1221,  and  though 
restored  since,  retains  internally  somewhat  of  its  Gothic 
character.  The  eagle  of  S.  John  in  painted  terra-cotta,  over 
the  great  door,  is  by  Niccolo  delU  Area.  The  interior  con- 
tains : — 

Right,  1st  Chapel.   Giac.  Francia.    Christ  appearing  to  the  Magdalen. 
2nd  Chapel.     Bart.  Cesi.     The  Crucifixion. 


278 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


2,rd  Chapel.  Guercino.  Oval  pictures  of  S.  Joseph  and  S.  Jerome. 
That  of  S.  Joseph  is  excellent.  The  Child  holds  out  to  its  foster- 
father  a  rose  to  smell. 

6th  Chapel.  Lippo  Dalmasio,  1340.  Small  picture  of  the  Madonna. 
Some  authorities  attribute  this  picture  to  Vitale. 

"jth  Chapel.     Lorenzo  Costa.     Madonna  throned  with  saints. 

Apse  of  Choir.  Id.  The  Vir^n  throned  with  the  Almighty  and  the 
Saviour  ;  beneath,  SvS.  John,  Augustin,  Victor,  and  others.  The  Intarsia 
work  of  the  choir  stalls  is  by  Paolo  Sacca,  1525.  The  terra-cotta  busts 
of  the  apostles  over  the  stalls  are  by  Alfonso  Lombardo. 

\2th  Chapel.  The  original  position  of  the  S.  Cecilia  of  Raphael — a 
bad  copy  now  here.  Under  the  altar  is  buried  the  Beata  Elena  Dugli- 
oli  dairOlio,  at  whose  expense  the  picture  was  painted. 

x^th  Chapel  {last  but  one).    Guercino.    S.  Francis  adoring  the  crucifix. 

The  Stained  Glass  is  good,  especially  the  round  window  representing 
S.  John  in  Patmos. 


S.  Stefano,  Bologfna. 


A  little  further  down  the  street,  on  the  right,  is  the  Church 
of  S.  Stefano,  one  of  the  most  curious  in  Bologna,  being  rather 
a  collection  of  churches  than  a  single  building.  The  chief 
portal  (near  which  is  an  outside  pulpit)  leads  into  the 
Church  of  the  Crocifisso  of  1637.  Hence  some  steps  lead 
down  into  the  Cliapel  of  the  Beata  Giuliana  //<?'  Banzt,  who 
is  buried  there  in  a  marble  sarcophagus.     The  third  church 


S.  STEP  A  NO.  279 

is  S.  Sepolcro,  evidently  an  ancient  Baptistery,  surrounded 
by  marble  columns,  said  to  be  taken  from  a  temple  of  Isis, 
and  rather  like  S.  Vitale  at  Ravenna.  Beneath  the  altar  is 
the  tomb  which  was  intended  to  receive  the  body  of  S. 
Petronio,  who  is  said  to  have  rendered  the  water  of  the 
central  well  miraculous.  The  fourth  church,  ^S^".  Pietro  e 
Paolo,  is  said  to  have  been  the  original  cathedral  of  Bologna, 
founded  by  S.  Faustinianus  in  330.  It  contains  a  Madonna 
and  Child  with  SS.  Nicolas  and  John,  by  Lor  Sabbatini,  and 
a  Crucifix  by  Simon  of  Bologna.* 

"  Like  Giotto's,  the  crucifixes  of  '  Simone  de'  Crocifissi '  have  only  one 
nail  in  the  feet,  but  the  emaciation  is  in  the  worst  Byzantine  taste,  and 
grief  in  the  attendant  figures  of  the  Virgin  and  S.  John  is  uniformly 
caricatured.     This  is  perhaps  one  of  his  best  Works." — Lord  Lindsay. 

The  fifth  church,  which  is  in  fact  a  small  open  cloister, 
called  LAtrio  di  Pilato,  contains  a  mediaeval  font  removed 
from  the  Baptistery,  and  a  Crucifixion  with  SS.  Jerome, 
Francis,  and  Mary  Magdalen  by  Giac.  Francia,  1520.  The 
sixth  church.  La  Coiifessione,  is  a  kind  of  crypt,  in  which  the 
native  martyrs  Vitale  and  Agricola  are  buried.  The  seventh 
church,  6'.  Trinitd,  contains  a  reliquary  by  'yacopo  Rossetti, 
1380,  and  a  figure  of  S.  Ursula^by  Simone  da  Bologna,  and 
some  quaint  pictures. 

"  This  nest  of  queer  little  churches  has  little  of  architectural — as  dis- 
tinguished from  antiquarian— interest.  The  brick- work  in  the  cloister 
and  in  some  of  the  external  walls  is  extremely  good.  Some  of  the  latter 
are  diapered  or  reticulated  on  the  face  with  square  yellow  tiles  w  ith 
dividing  lines  of  red  brick,  and  the  cornices  are  of  the  same  two  colours 
also.  In  the  cloister  the  columns  and  inner  order  of  the  arches  are  of 
stone,  the  rest  of  the  walls  and  cornices  being  of  red  and  yellow  bricks, 
and  in  one  part  there  is  a  course  of  red,  green,  and  yellow  tiles  alternated. 
The  effect  of  this  work  is  extremely  pretty." — Street. 

•  It  is  inscribed  : — "  Affixus  lingnopte  suffero  peiias.  Symon  fecit  hoc  opus.  Me- 
mento Q.  Pulvis  es,  et  pulvi  reiiteris.     Age  penitocia  et  vives  in  Eternum." 


28o 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


On  the  left  side  of  the  piazza  is  the  Palazzo  Bolognini 
of  1525,  adorned  with  terra-cotta  heads  in  medaUions  by 
Alfonso  Lofnbardi. 

The  adjoining  Palazzo  Pepoli  (facing  into  the  street 
behind  the  Strada  S.  Stefano)  is  an  immense  brick  building 
of  1344,  more  like  a  castle  than  a  palace.  It  has  a  beautiful 
terra-cotta  entrance.  Opposite  it,  is  a  later  palace  of  the 
same  name,  occupying  the  site  of  the  palace  of  the  great 
captain  Taddeo  Pepoli. 

(On  the  left  of  the  Via  Castiglione  (some  way  down)  is 
the  Church  of  S.  Lucia,  which  contains  a  letter  in  Portuguese 
written  by  S.  Francis  Xavier,  and  a  fine  picture  by  Cignani 
{^rd  altar,  left)  in  which  the  Holy  Child  rewards  SS.  John 


Razza  S.  Domenico,  Bologna. 

and  Teresa  wath  crowns.  The  Church  of  La  Madonna  della 
Misericordia,  just  outside  the  gate,  has  some  good  carving  by 
Marco  Tedesco  da  Cremona.) 


PIAZZA  S.  DOMENICO.  281 

The  first  turn  to  the  right  of  the  Strada  Castiglione  (Via 
Ponte  di  Ferro),  will  bring  us  to  the  Piazza  Cavour,  above 
which  is  the  interesting  Piazza  di  S.  Domenico,  highly 
picturesque,  from  its  two  columns  supporting  statues  of  the 
Virgin  and  S.  Domenic  (1623),  and  two  curious  canopied 
mediaeval  tombs, — that,  in  the  centre  of  the  piazza,  of 
Rolandino  Passaggieri,  who  wrote  the  proud  answer  of  the 
republic  to  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.,  when  he  demanded 
the  release  of  his  son  Enzius ;  and  that  of  one  of  the  Fos- 
cherari  family  of  1289. 

"  The  Foscherari  monument  has  a  square  basement  of  brick,  sup- 
porting detached  shafts,  above  which  are  round  arches,  the  whole  being 
finished  with  a  brick  pyramid.  Under  the  canopy  thus  formed  is  placed 
the  sarcophagus,  marked  with  a  cross  at  the  end,  and  finished  at  the 
top  with  a  steep  gabled  covering.  The  detail  of  this  is  all  of  late 
Romanesque  style.  The  Passeggieri  monument  is  of  later  date  and  much 
finer  design,  though  keeping  to.  the  same  general  outline.  In  place  of 
the  brick  basement  of  the  lirst,  this  has  three  rows  of  three  shafts,  which 
support  a  large  slab.  On  this  are  arcades  of  pointed  arches,  three  at 
the  sides  and  two  at  the  ends,  carried  on  coupled  shafts,  and  within  this 
upper  arcade  is  seen  the  stone  coffin  carved  at  the  top,  and  with  a  stiff 
effigy  of  the  deceased  carved  as  if  lying  on  one  of  the  perpendicular  sides. 
This  monument  is  also  finished  with  a  brick  pyramid.  The  whole  de- 
sign is  certainly  striking  ;  it  has  none  of  the  exquisite  skill  that  marks 
the  best  Veronese  monuments,  but  it  is  a  very  good  example  of  the  con- 
siderable success  which  may  be  achieved  by  an  architectural  design 
without  any  help  from  the  sculptor,  without  the  use  of  any  costly 
materials,  and  with  only  moderate  dimensions.  The  upper  tier  of 
arches  is  kept  in  position  by  an  iron  tie,  and,  in  spite  of  its  slender  look, 
still  stands,  after  five  hundred  years'  exposure,  in  perfect  condition." — 
Street. 

The  Church  itself  has  been  quite  modernized,  but  is  very 
interesting  from  its  monuments,  especially  from  the  tomb  of 
S.  Dominic,  who  died  at  Bologna  in  1221. 

Right,  \st  Altar.  Lippo  Dalmasio  {\yj()—\i^\o).  La  Madonna  "di 
Velluto." 


282  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

y-d  Chapel.     F.  Francia.  (?)    Madonna. 

dth  Chapel  (of  S.  Domenico).  On  the  ceiling  is  represented  the  re- 
ception of  the  saint  in  Paradise  by  Gtiido  Reni.  The  picture  on  the 
right,  of  his  raising  a  boy  from  the  dead,  is  by  Tiarini,  that  on  the  left,  of 
his  burning  heretical  books,  is  the  masterpiece  of  Lionello  Spada,  another 
pupil  of  the  Caracci.  In  the  centre  stands  the  famous  shrine  called  the 
Area  di  S.  Domenico,  one  of  the  great  works  of  Niccolh  Pisaiio.  The 
lowest  series  of  reliefs  are  added  by  Alfonso  Lombardo,  1528,  the  statu- 
ette of  S.  Petronius  in  front  and  the  angel  on  the  left  by  Michael  Angelo. 

"This  angel  is  so  utterly  unlike  the  style  of  Michael  Angelo,  that  its 
authenticity  might  well  be  questioned  were  it  not  for  the  evidence  of 
Vasari  and  Condivi,  both  of  whom  had  from  his  own  lips  the  story  of 
his  residence  in  Bologna.  We  can  only  account  for  this  by  supposing, 
that  he  endeavoured  as  far  as  possible  to  assimilate  his  work  to  the  other 
statuettes  about  the  shrine,  and  then  for  a  moment  lost  his  individuality. " 
— Perkins^  Italian  Sculptors. 

"This  is  perhaps  the  most  pleasing  work  Michael  Angelo  ever  pro- 
duced, the  effusion  of  an  imaginative  youthful  mind,  scarcely  yet  come 
into  contact  with  the  rude  reality  of  \\{e.."—Liibke. 

"The  prominent  features  of  the  Area  are  the  six  large  bas-reliefs,  de- 
lineating the  principal  events  in  the  legend  of  S.  Domenic,  disposed, 
two  behind,  one  at  each  extremity,  and  two  in  front,  between  which  last 
is  fixed  a  small  statue  of  the  Virgin,  crowned,  and  holding  the  infant 
Saviour  in  an  attitude  which  almost  every  one  of  the  successors  of 
Niccola  has  imitated  during  the  following  century,  none,  however, 
equalling  the  original.  A  small  statue  of  our  Saviour  occupies  the  cor- 
respondent place  at  the  back  of  the  Area,  and  the  four  Doctors  of  the 
Church  are  sculptured  at  the  angles.  The  operculum,  or  lid,  was  added 
about  two  hundred  years  afterwards. 

"  The  series  of  bas-reliefs  begins  and  ends  at  the  back,  running  round 
from  left  to  right.     The  subjects  are  briefly  as  follows  :  — 

"  I.  The  Papal  confirmation  of  the  rule  of  the  Dominican  order. — S. 
Dominic,  a  Spaniard,  of  the  illustrious  Gothic  house  of  Guzman,  having 
formed  the  scheme  of  a  new  religious  fraternity,  expressly  devoted  to  the 
defence  of  the  faith  against  heresy,  applied  to  the  Pope  for  his  sanction, 
but  unsuccessfully  ;  the  following  night  his  Holiness  beheld,  in  a  dream, 
the  church  of  the  Lateran  giving  way,  and  the  Saint  propping  it  with 
his  shoulders.  The  warning  was  obvious,  and  the  confirmation  was 
accordingly  granted.  Each  step  in  the  march  of  this  important  event  is 
represented  in  a  distinct  group  in  this  compartment. 

"  II.  The  appearance  of  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul  to  S.  Dominic, 
while  praying  in  S.  Peter's. — S.  Peter  presented  him  with  a  staff,  S-  Paul 


TOMB  OF  S.  DOMINIC  7.%% 

with  a  book,  bidding  him  go  forth  and  preach  to  Christendom.  To  the 
right,  S.  Dominic  is  seen  sending  forth  the  '  friar's  preachers  '  on  their 
mission  to  mankind. 

"III.  S.  Dominic  praying  for  the  restoration  to  life  of  the  young 
Napoleone  Orsini,  nephew  of  the  Cardinal  Stefano,  who  had  been 
thrown  from  his  horse  and  killed,  as  seen  in  the  foregromid  ;  his  mother 
kneels  behind,  joining  in  the  prayer. 

"IV.  S.  Dominic's  doctrine  tested  by  fire. — After  preaching  against 
the  Albigenses,  he  had  written  out  his  argument  and  delivered  it  to  one 
of  his  antagonists,  who  showing  it  to  his  companions  as  they  stood  round 
the  fire,  they  determined  to  submit  it  to  that  ordeal ;  the  scroll  was 
thrice  thrown  in,  and  thrice  leapt  out  unbumt. 

"  V.  The  miracle  of  the  loaves. — The  brethren,  forty  in  number,  assem- 
bled one  day  for  dinner,  but  nothing  was  producible  from  the  buttery 
except  a  single  loaf  of  bread.  S.  Dominic  was  dividing  it  among  them, 
when  two  beautiful  youths  entered  the  refectory  with  baskets  full  of 
loaves  which  they  distributed  to  the  fraternity,  and  then  immediately 
disappeared. 

"  VI.  The  profession  of  the  youthful  deacon,  Reginald. — He  fell  sud- 
denly ill  when  on  the  eve  of  entering  the  order  ;  his  life  was  despaired 
of  S.  Dominic  interceded  for  him  with  the  Virgin,  who  appeared  to 
him  the  following  night,  when  on  the  point  of  death,  accompanied  by 
two  lovely  maidens,  anointed  him  with  a  salve  of  marvellous  virtue, 
accompanying  the  unction  with  words  of  mystery  and  power,  and  pro- 
mised him  complete  recovery  within  three  days,  showing  him  at  the 
same  moment  a  pattern  of  the  Dominican  robe  as  she  willed  it  to  be 
worn  thenceforward,  varied  from  the  fashion  previously  in  use  ;  three 
days  afterwards  he  received  it  from  the  saint's  hands  in  perfect  health, 
as  the  Virgin  had  foretold. 

"  With  the  exception  of  the  Adoration  of  the  Kings  on  the  pulpit  at 
Pisa,  I  know  nothing  by  Niccola  Pisano  equal  to  these  bas-reliefs. 
Felicity  of  composition,  truth  of  expression,  ease,  dignity,  and  grace  of 
attitudes,  noble  draperies,  together  with  the  negative  but  emphatic  merit 
of  perfect  propriety,  are  their  prevailing  characteristics ;  but  the  whole 
are  finished  with  unsurpassed  minuteness  and  delicacy.  And  you  will 
recollect  too  that  these  compositions  are  wholly  Niccola's  own, — he  had 
no  traditional  types  to  guide  and  assist  him,  the  whole  is  a  new  coinage, 
clear  and  sharp,  from  the  mint  of  his  own  genius.  Altogether,  the 
'  Area  di  S.  Domenico '  is  a  marvel  of  beauty,  a  shrine  of  pure  and 
Christian  feeling,  which  you  will  pilgrimize  to  with  deeper  reverence 
every  time  you  revisit  Bologna." — Lord  Lindsay's  Christian  Art. 

The  Sacristy  contains  a  terra-cotta  Pieta  by  Rondellone,  and  railings 
with  intarsia  work  bv  Fra  Dainiano  da  Bergamo. 


284  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  Cappella  Isolani  (right  of  the  apse),  Filippino  Lippi,  1501 — 1551, 
Marriage  of  S.  Catherine  (in  the  presence  of  SS.  Paul,  Sebastian,  Peter, 
and  J.  Baptist),  painted  in  the  decline  of  the  master.' 

Choir.  The  stalls,  with  intarsia-vior'k,  are  by  Fra  Damiano  da  Ber- 
gamo, 1530,  of  the  history  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  The  picture 
of  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi  is  by  fiart.  Cesi. 

Left.  Tomb  of  King  Enzius,  taken  prisoner  1249,  died  1272.  The 
monument  only  dates  from  1731.  In  the  adjoining  chapel  is  the  fine 
tomb  of  Taddeo  Pepoli,  1337,  by  yacopo  Lanfrani.  The  altar-piece 
of  SS.  Michael,  Domenic,  and  Francis,  with  our  Saviour  and  angels 
above,  is  by  Giac.  Francia. 

Transept.  Opposite  the  tomb  of  King  Enzius  is  a  very  interesting 
picture  of  S.  Thomas  Aquinas,  by  Simone  da  Bologna,  proved  to  be  an 
authentic  portrait  by  the  annals  of  the  Order. 

15M  Chapel  [of  the  Relics).  Here  is  preserved  the  head  of  S.  Do- 
minic, in  a  silver  case  ;  the  body  of  the  Beato  Giacomo  da  Ulma,  who 
painted  on  glass  ;  and  the  mummy  of  the  Venerable  Serafino  Capponi. 

The  Chapel  of  the  Rosary  (opposite  S.  Domenico)  is  adorned  with 
frescoes  by  Dion.  Calvaert,  Guido  Reni,  Lod.  Caracci,  &c.  In  the 
centre  is  the  grave  of  Guido  Reni  and  his  pupil  Elizabetta  Sirani,  1665. 
The  early  and  sudden  death  of  the  latter  excited  at  the  time  some  suspi- 
cion of  poison,  but  it  was  afterwards  proved  that  she  died  from  internal 
inflammation. 

In  the  porch  leading  from  the  aisle  into  the  "piazza  is  the  tomb  of  the 
learned  Alessandro  Tartagni  of  Imola,  1477,  by  Francesco  di  Simone. 
It  is  ornamented  with  beautiful  and  delicate  foliage  and  arabesques 
quite  deserving  of  study.  Opposite  this  is  a  tomb  of  the  Volta  family, 
1557,  with  a  statue  by  Prospero  Clementi. 

Last  Chapel  but  one.  Lod.  Caracci.  S.  Raimond  crossing  the  sea 
upon  his  mantle. 

Last  Chapel.  A  bust  of  S.  Filippo  Neri,  from  a  cast  taken  after  his 
death. 

(A  little  behind  the  Piazza  S.  Domenico  is  the  handsome 
Palazzo  Grabinski,  formerly  Bacciochi,  designed  by  Palla- 
dio.) 

The  street  opposite  the  west  front  of  S.  Domenico,  leads 
into  the  Strada  di  S.  Mammolo.  Turning  left,  we  imme- 
diately reach  the  Church  of  S.  Frocolo.  Over  the  entrance 
is  a  lunette  of  the  Madonna  between  SS.  Sixtus  and  Bene- 
dict, by  the  early  Bolognese  master,  Lippo  Dalmasio. 


S.  PROCOLO,  S.  CATERINA  VIGRI.  285 

"  Lippo  Dalmasio  would  only  paint  images  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  and 
professed  a  peculiar  devotion  for  her  ;  and  such  was  the  importance  he 
attached  to  this  work,  that  he  never  commenced  painting  without  the 
previous  preparation  of  a  severe  fast  on  the  evening  before,  and  the  re- 
ception of  the  communion  on  the  day  itself,  in  order  that  his  imagination 
might  be  purified  and  his  pencil  sanctified.  The  best  proof  that  the  in- 
fluence of  a  preparation  of  this  nature  was  not  chimerical,  is  the  fact  of 
the  extraordinary  popularity  that  the  Madonnas  of  this  artist  enjoyed, 
so  that  it  was  considered  almost  a  disgrace  to  be  without  one  ;  and  also 
the  remarkable  testimony  of  Guido,  who,  discovering  in  the  Virgins  of 
Lippo  Dalmasio  something  of  a  superhuman  character  which  could  only 
be  attributed  to  a  secret  influence  directing  his  pencil,  did  not  hesitate 
to  declare  that  it  was  impossible  for  any  modem  artist,  however  he  might 
be  assisted  by  the  resources  of  talent  and  study,  to  succeed  in  uniting  so 
much  holiness,  modesty,  and  purity,  in  one  figure.  It  was  also  no 
unusual  thing  to  find  Guido  standing  entranced  before  one  of  these  re- 
vered images,  when  they  were  uncovered  for  public  devotion  on  the  days 
set  apart  for  the  worship  of  the  Madonna." — Rio 

"  On  the  return  of  Clement  VIII.  from  his  conquest  of  Ferrara,  he  is 
said  to  have  halted  before  the  Madonna  of  S.  Procolo,  and  reverently 
saluting  it,  to  have  declared  that  he  had  never  seen  images  more  devout 
or  that  touched  his  heart  nearer  ('  e  che  piii  lo  intenerissero ')  than  those 
painted  by  Lippo  Dalmasio." — Lord  Litidsay, 

■    Left,  1st  Chapel.     Ercole  Graziani.     S.  Maurus. 

2nd  Chapel.  Grave  of  the  early  martyr  S.  Proculus,  and  of  a  bishop 
of  the  same  name. 

^h  Chapel.    Ere.  Graziani.     The  Virgin  appearing  to  S.  Benedict. 

Near  the  door,  on  the  outside  wall,  is  an  inscription  in  memory  of  a 
man  named  Procolo,  who  was  killed,  1393,  by  one  of  the  bells  falling 
on  him,  as  he  was  passing  under  the  tower  ; — 

"  Si  procul  a  Proculo  Proculi  campana  fuisset. 
Nunc  procul  a  Proculo  Proculus  ipse  foret." 

Just  outside  the  Porta  S.  Mammolo  is  (left)  the  Church  of 
the  S.  Annunziata,  of  the  15th  century;  its  pictures  are  re- 
moved to  the  Academy. 

Returning  down  the  Strada  S.  Mammolo,  on  the  left  is  a 
wall  with  a  rich  fringe  of  terra-cotta.  It  is  that  of  the  Con- 
vent of  S.   Caterina    Vigri,  the  artist-nun,   1456.     The  ad- 


286  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

joining  Church  of  Corpus  Domini,  generally  called  La  Santa, 
has  a  fine  terra-cotta  doorway  and  contains  : — 

Right,  1st  Chapel.     Calvaert.     S.  Francis. 

2nd  Chapel.     Tomb  erected  by  Bologna  to  Luigi  Galvani. 

i^h  Chapel.  Lod.  Caracci.  The  Assumption  and  Burial  of  the 
Virgin . 

Choir.     Marc  Antonio  Franceschini,  1648 — 1729.     Last  Supper. 

Left,  1st  Chapel.     Id.     Death  of  Joseph. 

2nd  Chapel.     Id.     Annunciation. 

On  the  organ-loft  is  a  curious  relief  by  Cesi,  from  a  design  by  Baldas- 
sare  Peruzzi. 

Further  down  the  street  is  the  Palazzo  Bevilacqua  (formerly 
Campeggi)  designed  by  Bramantino,  with  a  magnificent  court. 
An  inscription  in  one  of  the  rooms  tells  us  that  the  Council 
of  Trent  assembled  there  in  1547,  having  removed  thither 
from  causes  of  health. 

Turning  left,  below  this  palace  is  the  Church  of  S.  Paolo, 
of  161 1,  containing  : — 

Right,  2nd  Chapel.  Lod.  Caracci.  Paradise.  The  Madonna  be- 
neath is  by  Lippo  Dalmasio. 

"The  Paradise  is  remarkable  as  a  complete  specimen  of  those  con- 
certs of  angels,  by  which  the  school  are  involuntarily  distinguished  from 
their  author  Correggio. " — Burckhardt. 

■yd  Chapel.  Giac.  Cavedone.  Nativity,  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  and 
decorations  of  the  ceiling. 

i^h  Chapel.     Guercino.     S.  Gregory  and  the  souls  in  Purgatory.  , 
High  Altar.    Aless.  Algardi.     The  Beheading  of  S.  Paul. 

Behind  this  church  is  the  Palazzo  Zamheccari,  with  a 
fagade  by  Carlo  Bianconi,  1771.  It  had  a  fine  gallery,  for 
the  most  dispersed.  A  few  pictures  by  Bolognese  masters 
still  remain. 

Close  to  S.  Paolo  (left)  is  the  Collegio  di  Sfagna,  founded 
by  Cardinal  Albornoz,  in  1364.  The  picturesque  entrance 
is  adorned  with  the  arms  of  Spain.     The  court -yard  with  its 


COLLEGIO  DI  SPAGNA,  S.  FRANCESCO.  287 

double  cloister  is  full  of  colour.  In  the  upper  gallery  is  a 
beautiful  but  injured  fresco  by  Bagnacavallo,  in  which  Car- 
dinal Albornoz  is  represented  kneeling  in  the  presence  of 
the  Holy  Family.  In  the  side  chapel  is  an  interesting  altar- 
piece  by  the  rare  master  Marco  Zoppo.  The  important 
fresco  of  the  Coronation  of  Charles  V.,  once  in  the  portico, 
to  which  Murray  continues  to  direct  the  attention  of  travel- 
lers, was  totally  destroyed  40  years  ago. 

Dom  Emanuele  Aponte  was  amongst  the  most  cele- 
brated of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  who  taught  in  this  college. 

Further  down  the  Via  Saragozza  (left)  is  the  handsome 
Palazzo  Albergati,  built  1540,  from  designs  of  Baldassare 
Feruzzi. 

The  street  opposite  this  contains  the  house  (No.  1347)  in 
which  the  Physician  Galvani,  of  electric  celebrity,  was  born. 
It  bears  the  inscription  : — 

"Galvanum  excepi  natum  liixique  peremptum 
Cujus  ab  invento  junctus  uterque  polus." 

On  the  left  is  the  great  brick  Church  of  S.  Francesco, 
)f  the  13th  century,  but  greatly  desecrated.  The  High 
[Altar  has  a  beautiful  screen  of  1388,  by  Giacobello  and  Fier 
vFaolo  delle  Massegne,  sculptors  well-known  in  Venetian  art. 
[Pope  Alexander  V.  (Peter  Phylargyrius),  1410,  was  buried  in 
'^this  church.  The  lunettes  in  the  portico,  representing  the 
story  of  S.  Antony  of  Padua,  are  by  Tiarini,  Gessi,  &c. 

The  street  opposite  S.  Francesco  (Porta  Nuova)  leads 
to  the  Church  of  S.  Salvatore,  built  in  the  17th  century  by 
Ambrogio  Magenta.  It  contains  the  unmarked  grave  of 
Guercino. 

Right,  1st  Chapel.     Ere.  Graziani.     Beato  A.  Canetoli  refusing  tlie 
Archbishopric  of  Florence. 
^h  Chapel.     Jacopo  Coppi,  1579.     The  Miracle  of  the  Crucifix. 


288  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

High  Altar.     Francesco  Gessi.     Christ  bearing  his  cross. 
dth  Chapel.    Aless.  Tiarini.     The  Nativity. 

"  How  entirely  Tiarini  misunderstood  the  calm,  idyllic  feeling  of  the 
scene  in  this  picture,  which  is  otherwise  excellent !  He  paints  it  on  a 
colossal  scale,  and  makes  Joseph  point  rhetorically  to  Mary,  as  if  to  call 
the  attention  of  the  spectators." — Burckhardt. 

"Jth  Chapel.     Innocenzo  da  Imola.     Crucifixion,  with  four  saints. 

%th  Chapel.     Carlo  Bonone.     Ascension. 

^th  Chapel.     Garofalo.     S.  John  and  Zacharias. 

Sacristy.     Frescoes  by  Cavcdone. 

Opposite  this  church  is  the  Palazzo  Marescalchi  by  Dom. 
Tibaldi.  It  has  chimney-pieces  painted  by  Guido  and  the 
Caracci. 

Immediately  below  S.  Francesco  (right)  are  the  Hotels, 
&c.  

Several  other  churches  may  be  visited  from  hence.  The 
Via  del  Pratello  leads  left  to  the  Church  of  S.  Rocco,  an 
oratory  adorned  with  paintings  of  the  life  of  S.  Roch,  almost 
all  voluntary  offerings  from  the  young  artists  of  the  17th  cen- 
tury, Camullo,  Cavedofii,  Gessi,  &c. 

From  the  same  point  (near  S.  Francesco),  the  Strada 
Felice  leads  to  (right)  the  Church  of  S.  Niccolb,  which  con- 
tains— 

^th  Chapel.     Ann.  Caracci.     The  Crucifixion. 

Behind  this  church  (No.  449)  is  the  Casa  Guercino,  which 
was  the  abode  of  the  painter. 

The  street  behind  S.  Niccolo  leads  to  the  Church  of  S. 
Bartolotnmeo  di  Reno  c  Madonna  di  Pioggia  (generally 
closed)  ;  it  contains  : — 

Left,  1st  Chapel.  Agostino  Caracci  (painted  in  his  27th  year).  The 
Nativity.     Also  two  prophets  on  the  ceiling. 


S.  BENEDETTO,  S.   GREGORIO.  289 

Lod.  Caracci.    The  Circumcision  and  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi. 

Oratory.     Alfonso  Lombardi.     S.  Bartholomew. 

Hence,  following  the  Riviera  di  Reno  and  the  Strada  di 
Galliera  (which  contains  the  handsome  Palazzo  Montanari, 
once  Aldrovandi)  of  1 748,  we  may  reach  the  Church  of  S. 
Benedetto,  built  1606  by  Giovanni  Ballarini,    It  contains  : — 

Right,  1st  Chapel.     Lucio  Afazzari.     Marriage  of  S.  Catherine. 
2nd  Chapel.     Ercole  Procaccini.     Annunciation,     The  other  pictures 
by  Cavedoni. 
^h  Chapel.     Cavedoni,     S.  Antony  beaten  by  demons. 
Left,  1st  Chapel.    Tiarini.  The  Virgin  conversing  with  the  Magdalen. 

Behind  this  church  are  the  dull  walks  of  the  Giardini 
Pubblici  and  the  rising  ground  called  La  Montagtiola. 

In  returning  we  may  turn  (left)  from  the  Riviera  di  Reno 
to  (right)  the  Church  of  S.  Giorgio.     It  contains  : — 

Left,  1st  Chapel.     Tiarini.     Flight  into  Egypt. 
2,nd  Chapel.     Ann.  Caracci.     Annunciation. 
ird  Chapel.     Id.     The  Pool  of  Bethesda. 
^h  Chapel.     Cantarini.     S.  Filippo  Benizzi   before  the  Virgin  and 
Child.     The  lower  part  is  by  Albani. 
High  Altar.     Procaccini.   S.  George. 

A  little  further  down  the  same  street  (left)  is  the  Church 
of  S.  Gregorio,  which  contains  :  — 

Left,  2nd  Chapel.  Lodovico  Caracci.  S.  George  and  the  Dragon, 
with  S.  Michael  and  the  Devil  above. 

^h  Chapel.     Ann.  Caracci.     Baptism  of  Christ. 

High  Altar.     Calvaert.     Miracle  of  S.  Gregory. 

We  are  now  again  close  to  the  hotels. 


Outside  the  Porta  S.  Mammolo,  the  second  turn  on  the 
right  is  a  steep  paved  walk,  Hned  with  acacias,  leading  to  the 
Convent  of  La  Madonna  del  Monte.     Half-way  up    the 

VOL.    II.  19 


290  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

ascent,  on  the  right  is  the  Villa  of  Minghetti,  the  Minister  of 
Finance,  marked  by  a  bow-window,  and,  built  into  this  villa, 
but  (though  used  as  a  receptacle  for  plants  in  winter)  care- 
fully preserved,  is  the  little  Chapel  of  La  Madonna  di  Mez- 
zaratta,  of  great  importance  in  the  history  of  art.  It  was 
built  in  1 1 06,  and  a  great  part  of  it  has  fallen  down  through 
age  and  neglect,  but  what  remains  has  been  restored. 

"  This  humble  sanctuary  has  been  correctly  styled  by  Lanzi  the 
Campo  Santo  of  Bologna.  It  was  built  in  the  twelfth  century,  but  the 
actual  paintings  are  not  more  ancient  than  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth. 
Vitale  was  employed  first,  to  paint  a  large  '  Presepio, '  or  Nativity, 
immediately  above  the  door, — -it  is  his  sole  work  there.  The  early  his- 
tory of  Genesis,  and  that  of  Joseph,  Moses,  and  Daniel  were  afterwards 
represented  in  four  rows  of  compartments  on  the  southern  wall  ;  the  life 
of  Our  Saviour  in  the  same  manner  on  the  northern,  and  the  history  of 
the  Passion  on  the  eastern,  or  altar-wall.  The  compartments  are  small, 
and  the  compositions  of  a  very  infantine  and  primitive  character,  far  in- 
ferior to  contemporary  works  at  Florence  and  Siena,  yet  full  of  fire 
and  originality  ;  while  impatience  is  rebuked  by  the  recollection  that 
Michael  Angelo  is  said  to  have  commended  them,  and  by  the  certaint\ 
that  Bagnacavallo  and  the  Caracci  took  the  most  active  interest  in  their 
preservation.  Now,  indeed,  few  of  the  series  survive  ;  many  have  been 
whitewashed,  the  church  has  been  re-roofed,  cutting  off  the  whole  upper 
row,  and  having  become  private  property,  there  is  little  security  against 
the  remainder  being  ultimately  obliterated.  Meanwhile  it  is  a  sweet 
and  tranquil  spot,  unprofaned  by  tourists,  musical  with  nightingales, 
and  commanding  a  view  which,  if  not  equal  to  that  from  S.  Michele 
in  Bosco,  will  well  reward  you  for  the  ascent ;  while  the  remembrance 
of  S.  Bernardino  of  Siena,  who  loved  the  place  and  used  to  preach 
there,*  lends  it  an  association  of  historical  and  religious  interest.  But 
to  revert  to  the  Presepio.  The  composition  is  the  old  traditional  one, 
happily  varied  ;  Joseph,  for  instance,  instead  of  sitting  moodily  in  his 
comer,  pours  water  into  a  vase  for  the  Virgin  to  wash  the  child  with, 
and  a  number  of  angels  are  kneeling  in  front  in  adoration.  The  execu- 
tion is  very  defective ;  but  there  is  an  air  of  grace  and  feeling  of  the 
ideal  in  the  composition,  and  in  the  figure  of  the  Madonna.    The  paint- 

•  The  "picciol  pergamo  (incastrato  nel  muro)  ove  tante  volte  fe'  udirsi  S.  Bernar- 
dino Sanese,  divotissimo  di  questo  luogo,  e  padre  spirituale  di  que'  confratelli,"  is  still 
to  be  seen  there. 


MADONNA  DI  MEZZARATTA.  291 

ings  immediately  to  the  right  and  left  are  by  another,  and  an  imknown 
hand,  apparently  a  Giottesco. 

"  According  to  Vasari,  the  whole  southern  wall  was  painted  by  Cris- 
toforo,  an  artist — some  say  of  Ferrara,  others  of  Modena,  while  the 
Bolognese  claim  him  as  their  own  countryman.  Malvasia  tells  us  he 
was  the  first  that  painted  on  the  southern  wall, — if  so  the  uppermost 
row  only  can  belong  to  him,  the  second,  and  possibly  part  of  the  third, 
having  been  executed  by  a  painter  named  Jacobus,  and  the  fourth  by  • 
one  Lorenzo.  Of  this  uppermost  row,  two  or  three  fragments  may  be 
seen  in  the  granary  above  the  modem  ceiling  of  the  church  ;  the  pret- 
tiest of  them  is  a  representation  of  Eve  spinning,  with  her  children  on 
her  knee,  after  the  Fall.  They  are  pale  in  colour,  like  the  paintings  of 
acknowledged  Ferrarese  origin,  and  the  primitive  Roman  school  of 
Lombardy,  and  decidedly  different  in  style  from  the  frescoes  in  the 
church  beneath.  Cristoforo  also  painted  the  altar-piece,  now  removed, 
but  engraved  by  Agincourt,  and  which  bore  his  name,  and  the  date 
1380. 

"  Of  the  frescoes  by  Lorenzo,  representing  the  history  of  Daniel,  not  a 
trace  remains.  The  Marriage,  which  seems  to  have  been  painted  over 
one  of  the  original  compartments,  is  evidently  by  a  more  modern  and 
practised  hand,  of  the  fifteenth  century :  it  is  singularly  graceful,  but 
has  been  sadly  injured. 

"  Simon  and  Jacobus  rank  next  in  order  among  the  artists  of  Bologna 
and  of  the  Madonna  di  Mezzaratta.  Both  are  said  to  have  been  of  the 
Avanzi  family.  The  compositions  of  Jacobus  have  been  more  fortunate 
as  to  their  preservation  than  those  of  Simon.  They  may  easily  be  re- 
cognized by  comparison  with  the  fourth  compartment  of  the  lowest  row 
on  the  left-hand  wall,  representing  the  Pool  of  Bethesda,  and  which  is 
signed  with  his  name,  'Jacobus  p.,'  ox  fecit.  The  earliest  in  point  of 
date  are  the  series  representing  the  history  of  Joseph,  forming  the  second 
row,  on  the  right-hand  wall.  Some  of  these  are  characterized  by  singular 
naivete ;  the  seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth,  are  perhaps  the  most  worth 
notice.  The  row  immediately  below  these,  dedicated  to  the  life  of 
Moses,  is  of  comparatively  inferior  interest,  though  the  four  last  com- 
partments (representing  the  Reception  of  the  Tables  of  the  Law,  and 
the  Worship  of  the  Golden  Calf ;  the  Judicial  Massacre  of  the  Israelites  ; 
and  the  Delivery  of  the  Tables  to  the  Princes  of  Israel  after  their  re- 
delivery from  the  Mount,  and  the  Destniction  of  Korah,  Dathan,  and 
Abiram)  bear  a  resemblance  to  the  manner  of  Jacobus,  and  may  possibly 
be  by  his  hand.  But  the  remaining  frescoes  on  the  left-hand  wall  are 
certainly  his.  The  third  and  fourth  of  the  lowest  row  are  the  most  in- 
teresting. In  the  former,  Our  Saviour  sits  among  his  disciples,  dis- 
coursing, while  those  without  uncover  the  roof  of  the  house,  and  let 


29i  ITALIAN-  CITIES. 

down  the  man  sick  of  the  palsy,  who  turns  to  Christ  with  clasped  hands  ; 
while,  to  the  right,  he  is  seen  walking  away  healed,  with  his  mattress 
bundled  upon  his  shoulders.  The  foreshortenings  are  daring  to  an 
absurd  degree,  and  the  whole  composition  is  very  rude,  but  it  is  full  of 
life  and  character,  and  it  is  impossible  not  to  sympathize  with  such  fear- 
less boldness.  And  the  like  may  be  said  of  the  adjacent  Pool  of  Beth- 
esda  ;  the  angel  descends  to  trouble  the  water,  a  sick  person  stands  in 
it  praying,  the  cripple  who  had  been  suffering  for  thirty-eight  years  sits 
up  in  bed  in  the  centre  of  the  composition,  looking  with  earnest  suppli- 
catory gaze  and  clasped  hands  towards  Christ,  whose  attention  however, 
like  that  of  Joseph  in  the  fresco  described  above,  is  drawn  away  from 
him  by  another  work  of  love,  the  resuscitation  of  a  little  child  ;  he  is 
seen  again  to  the  left,  enthroned  under  a  portico,  surrounded  by  Phari- 
sees, and  addressing  a  poor  woman,  who  kneels  at  his  feet.  The  groups 
and  figures  are  well  arranged,  and  there  is  more  expression  than  in  the 
frescoes'  on  the  opposite  wall.  The  face  of  our  Saviour  is  throughout 
peculiarly  sweet  and  holy.  Of  the  composition  of  Simon,  carrying  the 
history  down  to  the  Last  Supper,  and  those  on  the  altar-wall  represent- 
ing the  Passion,  executed  above  half  a  century  afterwards  by  Galasso  of 
Ferrara,  no  traces  whatever  are  now  visible." — Lord  Lindsay's  Chris- 
tian Art. 

We  may  now  return  to  the  high-road  and  ascend  the  hill, 
directly  above  the  Porta  S.  Mammolo,  by  a  delightful  ter- 
raced road  lined  with  plane-trees,  to  the  great  OHvetan 
Convejit  atid  Church  of  S.  Michele  in  Bosco.  Here  the 
Popes  had  a  summer  residence,  which  is  now  taken  posses- 
sion of  by  Victor  Emanuel.  Its  many  cloisters  are  bright 
with  flowers  in  summer.  The  last,  which  is  octangular,  was 
adorned  with  frescoes  by  Lodovico  Caracci,  but  little  of  his 
work  remains  entire,  except  some  striking  figures  in  a  fresco 
of  the  Miracle  of  S.  Benedict. 

"The  masterly  dignity  of  the  character  of  Lodovico  Caracci  appears 
to  most  advantage  in  the  cloister,  where,  assisted  by  his  pupils,  he  re- 
presented the  actions  of  S.  Benedict  and  S.  Cecilia  in  thirty -seven  separ- 
ate histories.  By  his  hand  is  the  conflagration  of  Monte  Cassino,  and 
some  other  portions  ;  the  remaining  parts  are  by  Guido,  by  Tiarini,  by 
Massari,  by  Cavedoni,  by  Spada,  by  Garbieri,  by  Buzio,  and  other 
young  artists.     These  paintings  have  been  engraved  and  are  worthy  of 


5'.  MICHELE  IN  BOSCO,  S.  LUCA,  293 

the  reformers  of  that  age.  On  beholding  what  we  may  term  this  gallery 
by  different  hands,  we  should  be  almost  inclined  to  bestow  upon  the 
schools  of  Lodovico  this  trite  eulogy  ;  that  from  it,  as  from  the  Trojan 
house,  there  issued  only  princes." — Lanzi. 

In  the  Church,  over  the  doors  at  the  sides  of  the  choir, 
are  some  admirable  heads  of  monks  of  Dom.  Canuti.  The 
Sacristy,  which  ends  in  a  curiously  illusive  perspective- 
picture,  has  frescoes  by  Bagnacavallo,  and  a  Magdalen  by 
Canuti.  The  halls  of  the  Palace  are  handsome,  but  little 
worth  seeing.  The  convent  Dormitory  is  used  as  a  kind  of 
extra  museum  by  the  Belle- Arti. 

But  the  great  attraction  is  the  glorious  view  from  the  ter- 
race of  the  Papal  Garden,  which  no  one  should  omit  to  visit. 
Like  a  map,  Bologna  lies  stretched  beneath  with  its  innumer- 
able churches,  amid  which  S.  Petronio  is  a  centre,  and  the 
Leaning  Towers  rise  fantastically  conspicuous. 

"  The  prospect,  from  an  elevation,  of  a  great  city  in  its  silence,  is  one 
of  the  most  impressive,  as  well  as  beautiful,  we  ever  behold." — Hallatn. 


A  separate  excursion  should  be  made  from  the  Porta 
Saragossa  by  the  extraordinary  portico  of  635  arches,  three 
miles  in  length  (built  1676 — 1739  by  voluntary  contributions 
in  honour  of  the  Virgin),  to  the  shrine  of  La  Madonna  di 
S.  Luca,  which  is  such  a  striking  feature  in  all  distant  views 
of  the  town,  occupying  the  same  position  in  regard  to 
Bologna  as  the  Superga  does  to  Turin.  The  view  from  the 
summit  is  quite  magnificent. 

The  Church  intended  to  receive  one  of  the  black  images 
of  the  Virgin  attributed  to  S.  Luke  and  said  to  have  been 
brought  here  from  Constantinople  in  1160 — was  built,  in 
1 73 1,  by  Carlo  F.  Dotti.     The  only  pictures  of  interest  are 


294  ITALIAN'  CITIES. 

some  early  works  of  Guido  relating  to  the  Mysteries  of  the 
Rosary  in  the  3rd  Chapel  on  the  right. 

Near  the  foot  of  the  hill  of  S.  Luca  is  the  Certosa,  a  Car- 
thusian monastery  founded  in  1335,  whose  gardens  are  now 
used  as  the  magnificent  Campo  Santo  of  Bologna  (conse- 
crated 1801).  The  Church  contains  many  pictures  by  late 
Bolognese  artists,  the  most  interesting  are  : — 

Andrea  Sirani.     The  Supper  in  the  Pharisee's  house. 
Elisabetta  Sirani  (painted  in  her  20th  year).     The  Baptism  of  Christ 
The  artist  has  introduced  her  own  figure  sitting. 

The  Cemetery  is  entered  by  a  cloister  devoted  to  monu- 
ments removed  from  suppressed  convents  and  other  build- 
ings. The  most  striking  is  that  of  Francesco  Albergati, 
ob.  151 7,  with  his  beautiful  sleeping  figure. 

Among  the  monuments  in  the  cloisters  which  surround 
the  Campo  Santo,  we  may  notice  that  by  Tadolmi  to  the 
famous  Clotilda  Tambroni,  who  only  died  in  181 7,  and  by 
Vela  (1865)  to  Letizia  Murat  Pepoli  (ob.  1859),  with  a  statue 
of  her  father  King  Murat. 


A  spot  about  three  miles  west  of  Bologna,  at  a  place  now 
called  Crocetta  del  Trebbo,  is  pointed  out  by  local  authorities 
as  the  famous  meeting-place  of  the  second  Roman  triumvi- 
rate— Antony,  Octavian,  and  Lepidus — B.C.  43.  It  is  an 
island  formed  by  the  Reno — the  Rhenus  of  ancient  times — 
but  its  size  (half  a  mile  long,  and  a  third  of  a  mile  wide) 
does  not  seem  to  correspond  with  the  description  of  the  spot 
in  question. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
RAVENNA. 

IN  entering  upon  a  tour  through  the  country  towns  of  the 
Emilia,  it  may  be  well  to  recollect  that  here  money 
ought  to  go  much  further  than  in  other  parts  of  Italy.  If 
travellers  have  no  courier,  2  frs.  for  a  room  and  3  frs.  for  a 
dinner  will  be  found  to  be  the  usual  prices.  3  frs.  is  cer- 
tainly the  proper  price  at  which  to  order  a  dinner,  as  no 
more  would  be  obtained  if  you  ordered  it  at  10  frs.  The 
people  of  the  Emilia  are  almost  invariably  kind,  civil,  and 
hospitable  to  strangers.  They  are  celebrated  for  their 
beauty,  especially  the  women  of  Pesaro  and  Fano,  while  the 
young  men  of  Forli  are  considered  the  noblest  specimens  of 
humanity  in  existence.  The  men  have  no  national  costume, 
women  of  the  upper  classes  generally  wear  knitted  veils, 
something  like  Spanish  mantillas,  especially  in  the  churches. 
The  Emilia  is  very  richly  cultivated,  the  partition  system 
being  adopted ;  by  which  the  owner  lets  out  the  land  to  the 
contadino,  for  the  benefit  of  his  labour  and  implements, 
receiving  half  the  produce  in  return. 

(It  is  three  hours  by  rail  from  Bologna  to  Ravenna.  I.  7.  frs.  40  c. 
IL  5  f''S'  60  c.  III.  2  frs.  80  c.  Trains  are  changed  at  Caste! 
Bolognese.) 


296  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

(The  Railway  nearly  follows  the  course  of  the  Via 
Emilia. 

Jmola  Station.  Imola  occupies  the  site  of  the  Roman 
station  Forum  Cornelii,  mentioned  by  Cicero  and  Martial. 
It  is  the  birth-place  (1506)  of  the  painter  Innocenzo  da 
Imola,  but  there  is  no  good  work  of  his  here.  The 
Cathedral  of  S.  Cassianus  has  a  picturesque  octangular 
tower.  In  its  crypt  is  the  grave  of  S.  Peter  Chrysologus 
(the  great  orator  of  the  5th  century,  whose  surname  illus- 
trates the  effect  of  his  sermons),  and  of  S.  Cassianus. 

*'  S.  Casciano  (Cassian),  patron  of  Imola,  was  a  school -master  of  that 
city,  and  being  denounced  as  a  Christian,  the  judge  gave  him  up  to  the 
fury  of  his  scholars,  whom  the  severity  of  his  discipline  had  inspired  with 
the  deepest  hatred.  The  boys  revenged  themselves  by  putting  him  to  a 
slow  and  cruel  death,  piercing  him  with  the  iron  styles  used  in  writing ; 
his  story  is  told  by  Prudentius." — yameson^s  Sacred  Art. 

Pius  VII.  was  Bishop  of  Imola  when  he  was  raised  to  the 
Papal  throne  in  1800,  and  Pius  IX.  was  its  Bishop  in 
1846. 

After  leaving  Castel  Bolognese,  we  pass — 

Lugo  {Station)  supposed  to  occupy  the  site  of  the  Lucus 
Dianae.  3  m.  S.  E.  is  Cotignola,  where  Attendolo,  father  of 
Francesco  Sforza,  was  bom  1369,*  who  here,  a  peasant's  son, 
threw  his  axe  into  an  oak  to  decide  by  its  falling  or  re- 
maining fixed  in  the  trunk,  whether  he  should  remain  a  day- 
labourer  or  join  a  band  of  condottieri.  The  painters 
Francesco  and  Bernardino  Zaganelli  took,  from  this  their 
birth-place,  the  surname  of  Cotignola.  Four  miles  north  is 
Fusignano,  where  the  poet  Vincenzo  Monti  and  the  com- 
poser Angelo  Corelli  were  bom. 

Bagnacavallo  {Station)  gave  a  name  to  the  painter  Bartol. 
Ramenghi,  who  was  born  here,  1484.) 

*  Montecchio,  near  Parma,  also  claims  to  be  his  birth-place. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  RAVENNA.  297 

Ravenna. 

(Inns.  Spada  d  Oro  ;  Europa, — tolerable,  as  very  rough  Italian  Inns, 
— both  in  the  Strada  del  Monte.  Carriages  from  the  station  to  the  town, 
with  I  horse,  50  c.  j  with  2  horses  i  fr.  ;  night,  75  c,  with  2  horses, 
I  fr.  50  c.  Carriage  for  the  afternoon  to  S.  Apollinare  in  Classe,  the 
Pineta,  &c.,  5  frs. 

For  Photographs  of  Ravenna.  Ricci,  295,  Strada  Porta  Sisi  (Byron's 
House).) 

"  If  we  seek  through  the  world  for  a  city  which  is  absolutely  unique 
in  its  character  and  interest,  we  shall  find  it  at  Ravenna.  It  is  a  city  in 
which,  as  soon  as  we  set  foot,  we  at  once  find  ourselves  among  the 
memorials  of  an  age  which  has  left  hardly  any  memorials  elsewhere. 
The  sea,  which  once  gave  Ravenna  its  greatness,  has  fallen  back  and 
left  the  once  Imperial  city  like  a  wreck  in  the  wilderness.  In  the  like 
sort  the  memory  of  an  age,  strange  if  not  glorious,  full  of  great  changes, 
if  not  of  great  deeds,  has  passed  away  from  other  spots  without  leaving 
any  visible  memorial  ;  at  Ravenna  the  memorials  of  that  age  are  well- 
nigh  all  that  is  left.  It  is  well  that  such  a  strange  comer  of  history 
should  still  abide  as  a  living  thing  in  one  forsaken  corner  of  Europe. 
It  is  well  that  there  should  be  one  spot  from  which  the  monuments  of 
heathen  Rome  and  mediaeval  Christendom  are  alike  absent,  and  where 
every  relic  breathes  of  the  strange  and  almost  forgotten  time  which  comes 
between  the  two." — Freeman. 

"  Ravenna  in  her  widowhood — the  waste 

Where  dreams  a  withered  ocean  ;  where  the  hand 
Of  time  has  gently  played  with  tombs  defaced 
Of  priest  and  emperor  ;  where  the  temples  stand, 
Proud  in  decay,  in  desolation  grand, — 
Solemn  and  sad  like  clouds  that  lingeringly 
Sail,  and  are  loath  to  fade  upon  the  sky." — y.  A.  S. 

"  Une  chose  console  pourtant  de  la  vue  de  ce  desert  qui  a  pris 
possession  d'une  cite  jadis  si  populeuse,  si  animee,  ruine  encore  debout 
survivant  a  tant  d'autres  mines.  Cette  chose,  c'est  une  incomparable 
reunion  de  monuments  de  I'art  chretien,  qui,  nuUe  part  ailleurs  ne  se 
trouve  aussi  purement,  aussi  completement  represente  dans  ses  formes 
primitives  et  son  mysterieux  symbolisme.  Plus  byzantine  que  Con- 
stantinople elle-meme,  Ravenne,  sauf  la  puissance  et  la  gloire  qui  se 
sont  retirees  d'elle  comme  le  font  chaque  jour  les  flots  mouvants  de 
I'Adriatique,  Ravenne  est  restee  a  peu  pres  ce  qu'elle  etait  au  temps  de 
Justinien  et  des  exarques.    De  meme  que  Caere  rappelle  la  ville  etrusque. 


298  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Cumes  et  Pompei  la  cite  grecque  et  le  municipe  remain,  I'ancienne 
capitale  de  I'Exarchat  nous  transporte  en  plain  Bas-Empire.  Sa 
decadence,  son  immobilite  ne  representent  que  trop  fidelement  la 
decadence  et  I'immobilite  d'un  etat  qui  dix  siecles  durant  ne  cessa  de 
pencher  vers  son  declin.  Aussi,  en  la  visitant,  on  ressent  le  triste 
plaisir  d'avoir  sous  les  yeux  la  necropole  la  mieux  conservee  de  1' Italic. 
Apres  avoir  fait  le  tour  de  ses  vieilles  murailles  qui  gardent  les  traces  des 
breches  ouvertes  par  les  Barbares,  penetrez  dans  I'interieur  de  ses 
austeres  basiliques,  et  vous  venez  que  I'antiquite  chretienne  y  revit  plus 
intacte  qu'a  Rome,  car  vous  n'y  rencontrez  pas  le  melange,  parfois 
choquant,  du  sacre  et  du  profane.  Ainsi  qu'on  I'a  dit  avec  raison, 
Ravenne  est  done  une  ville  essentiellement  hieratique,  sortant  tout  k 
coup  de  la  profondeur  de  ses  cryptes,  et  dont  les  portes  semblent  encore, 
de  nos  jours,  gardees  par  deux  statues,  celles  de  1' Empire  et  de  la 
Religion,"— Z>a«^iirr,  "  Z'//a//<?." 

The  early  History  of  Ravenna  may  be  told  in  the  words 
of  Gibbon  : — 

"  On  the  coast  of  the  Adriatic,  about  ten  or  twelve  miles  from  the  most 
southern  of  the  seven  mouths  of  the  Po,  the  Thessalians  founded  the 
ancient  colony  of  Ravenna,  which  they  afterwards  resigned  to  the  natives 
of  Umbria.  Augustus,  who  had  observed  the  opportunity  of  the  place, 
prepared,  at  the  distance  of  three  miles  from  the  old  town,  a  capacious 
harbour,  for  the  reception  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  ships  of  war. 
This  naval  establishment,  which  included  the  arsenals  and  magazmes, 
the  barracks  of  the  troops,  and  the  houses  of  the  artificers,  derived  its 
origin  and  name  from  the  permanent  station  of  the  Roman  fleet ;  the 
intermediate  space  was  soon  filled  with  buildings  and  inhabitants,  and 
the  three  extensive  and  populous  quarters  of  Ravenna  (Ravenna,  Cesarea, 
and  Classis)  gradually  contributed  to  form  one  of  the  most  important 
cities  of  Italy.  The  principal  canal  of  Augustus  poured  a  copious 
stream  of  the  waters  of  the  Po  through  the  midst  of  the  city,  to  the 
entrance  of  the  harbour  ;  the  same  waters  were  introduced  into  the  pro- 
found ditches  that  encompassed  the  wall ;  they  were  distributed  by  a 
thousand  subordinate  canals,  into  every  part  of  the  city,  which  they 
divided  into  a  variety  of  small  islands  ;  the  communication  was  main- 
tained only  by  the  use  of  boats  and  bridges  ;  and  the  houses  of  Ravenna, 
whose  appearance  may  be  compared  to  that  of  Venice,  were  raised  on 
the  foundation  of  wooden  piles.  The  adjacent  country,  to  the  distance 
of  many  miles,  was  a  deep  and  impassable  morass  ;  and  the  artificial 
causeway,  which  connected  Ravenna  with  the  continent,  might  be  easily 


HISTOR  Y  OF  RA  VENN  A . 


299 


guarded,  or  destroyed,  on  the  approach  of  a  hostile  army.  These 
morasses  were  interspersed,  however,  with  vineyards ;  and  though  the 
soil  was  exhausted  by  four  or  five  crops,  the  town  enjoyed  a  more 
plentiful  supply  of  wine  than  of  fresh  water.  The  air,  instead  of 
receiving  the  sickly  and  almost  pestilential  exhalations  of  low  and 
marshy  grounds,  was  distinguished,  like  the  neighbourhood  of  Alex- 
andria, as  uncommonly  pure  and  salubrious  ;  and  this  singular  advantage 
was  attributed  to  the  regular  tides  of  the  Adriatic,  which  swept  the  canal, 
interrupted  the  unwholesome  stagnation  of  the  waters,  and  floated  every 
day  the  vessels  of  the  adjacent  country  into  the  heart  of  Ravenna.  The 
gradual  retreat  of  the  sea  has  left  the  modern  city  at  the  distance  of  four 
miles  from  the  Adriatic ;  and  as  early  as  the  fifth  or  sixth  century  of 
the  Christian  era,  the  port  of  Augustus  was  converted  into  pleasant 
orchards ;  and  a  lonely  grove  of  pines  covered  the  ground  where  the 
Roman  fleet  once  rode  at  anchor.  Even  this  alteration  contributed  to 
increase  the  natural  strength  of  the  place ;  and  the  shallowness  of  the 
water  was  a  sufficient  barrier  against  the  large  ships  of  the  enemy. 
This  advantageous  situation  was  fortified  by  art  and  labour  :  and  in  the 
twentieth  year  of  his  age,  Honorius,  emperor  of  the  west,  anxious  only 
for  his  personal  safety,  retired  to  the  perpetual  confinement  of  the  walls 
and  morasses  of  Ravenna.  The  example  of  Honorius  was  imitated  by 
his  feeble  successors,  the  Gothic  kings,  and  afterwards  the  exarchs,  who 
occupied  the  throne  and  palace  of  the  emperors  ;  and,  till  the  middle  of 
the  eighth  century,  Ravenna  was  considered  as  the  seat  of  government, 
and  the  capital  of  Italy." — Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

This  Venice-like  condition  of  Ravenna  is  alluded  to  by 
many  of  the  Latin  poets,*  especially  by  Claudian  : — 

"  Antiquse  muros  egressa  Ravennse 
Signa  movet ;  jamque  ora  Padi,  ponusque  reliquit 
Flumineos,  certis  ubi  legibus  advena  Nereus 
.^stuat,  et  pronas  puppes  nunc  amne  secundo, 
Nunc  redeunte  vehit ;  nudataque  litora  fluctu 
Deserit,  Oceani  lunaribus  semula  damnis." 

Cons.  Hon.  vi.  494. 

In  A.D.  79,  Christianity  is  said  to  have  been  first  preached 
in  Ravenna  by  its  patron  S.  Apollinaris,  who  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom here.     In  404,  Honorius,  son  of  the  great  Theodo- 


•  Sil.  Ital.  viii.  602  ;  Martial,  xiii.  Ep.  18;  Id.  iii.  56;  Sid.  Apol.  c.  ix. 


300  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

sius,  removed  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  Western 
Empire  from  Rome  to  Ravenna,  and  here  his  brave  sister, 
Placidia,  ruled  for  25  years  after  his  death,  in  the  name  of 
her  son  Valentinian  III.,  in  which  time  Ravenna  attained 
its  greatest  glory,  and  the  churches  of  S.  Giovanni  Evange- 
lista,  S.  Agata,  S.  Francesco,  and  SS.  Nazaro  and  Celso  were 
built.  After  the  fall  of  Olybrius,  who  had  married  Placidia, 
daughter  of  Valentinian,  the  Herulian  Odoacer  nominally 
ruled  for  three  years  (490 — 493)  in  Ravenna  as  King.  He 
was  murdered  in  his  palace,  and  succeeded  by  Theodoric, 
the  Ostrogoth,  who  had  already  obtained  a  partnership  in 
his  government.  Theodoric  was  an  Arian,*  and  during  his 
reign  six  great  Arian  churches  were  built,  of  which  S.  Apol- 
linare  Nuovo  and  S.  Spirito  remain.  Owing  to  the  tolerance 
of  Theodoric,  Ravenna  was  no  less  enriched  during  his  life- 
time with  great  Catholic  churches,  of  which  (the  modernized) 
S.  Maria  Maggiore  is  one ;  S.  Vitale  and  S.  Apollinare  in 
Classe  were  also  both  commenced  before  his  death. 

Theodoric  died  in  526,  and  was  succeeded  by  a  series 
of  elective  kings.  The  last  who  ruled  in  Ravenna  was 
Vitiges,  who  was  besieged  in  Ravenna  and  subdued  (539) 
by  Belisarius,  the  general  of  Justinian,  then  Emperor  of 
the  East.  Under  Justinian,  Ravenna  was  ruled  and  its 
palace  inhabited  by  the  eunuch  Narses,  who  took  the 
title  of  Exarch,  and  for  fourteen  years  (554 — 568)  admin- 
istered the  entire  kingdom  of  Italy,  During  his  reign 
and  that  of  the  succeeding  Exarchs,  Ravenna  continued  to 
be  the  chief  town  of  Italy,  Rome  a  mere  provincial  city. 


*  The  Arian  heresy  was  concerning  the  nature  of  the  Divine  Trinity.  The  Arians 
maintained  that  there  was  only  one  God,  and  that  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
were  created  beings. 


HISTOR  V  OF  RA  VENNA.  30« 

While  it  looked  to  Constantinople  as  its  mother  city,  Byzan- 
tine treasures  and  the  knowledge  of  Byzantine  arts  natur- 
ally contributed  to  its  adornment,  so  that,  in  the  words  of 
Gregorovius,  "  Ravenna  has  become  the  Pompeii  of  the 
Gothic  and  Byzantine  times."  The  Exarchate  lasted  185 
years — the  later  Exarchs  ruling  feebly,  like  satraps  of  an 
old  eastern  monarchy.  It  came  to  an  end  under  the  Exarch 
Eutychius,  who  was  driven  out  by  Astaulphus,  king  of  the 
Lombards,  in  a.d.  752.  The  attempt  of  the  Lombards  to 
seize  Rome  also,  brought  Pepin,  king  of  the  Franks,  to  the 
rescue,  and  he  made  over  Ravenna  as  a  temporal  possession 
to  the  Holy  See. 

From  this  time  Ravenna  lost  its  importance,  though  its 
Archbishops  often  gave  it  a  certain  lustre,  many  of  them 
being  raised  to  eminence  either  as  Popes  or  Anti-Popes. 
From  1295  to  1346  it  was  ruled  by  the  house  of  Polenta, 
under  whom  Dante  found  a  refuge  here.  From  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Polentani,  Ravenna  passed  to  that  of  Venice, 
who  ruled  it  till  1509,  when  it  was  ceded  to  Julius  11, ,  who 
made  it  the  capital  of  the  Romagna.  In  1 5 1 2,  the  battle  of 
Ravenna  was  fought  beneath  the  walls,  in  which  a  victory 
was  gained  over  the  Papal  troops  by  the  army  of  Louis  XII., 
but  Gaston  de  Foix  was  killed. 

The  town,  apart  from  its  antiquities,  is  miserably  ugly, 
squalid,  and  featureless,  and  even  the  wonderful  interiors  are 
too  much  spoilt  by  modernization  to  be  beautiful,  except  the 
Mausoleum  of  Galla  Placidia  and  S.  Apollinare  in  Classe. 

The  early  art  history  and  the  political  history  of  Ravenna 
are  identical.  In  later  times  the  so-called  "  School  of  Ra- 
venna" was  a  very  poor  one;  Luca  Longhi  (1507 — 1580) 
being  its  greatest  luminary. 


302  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

One  architectural  feature  of  Ravenna  will  strike  all  visitors. 
It  is  that  while  almost  all  other  campaniles  in  Italy  are 
square,  here  they  are  almost  all  round. 

Two  days  at  least  should  be  given  to  Ravenna.  The 
sights  may  thus  be  divided  : — 

\st  Day.  Morning.  S.  Spirito.  S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin.  S.  Gio- 
vanni Battista.  Mausoleum  of  Galla  Placidia.  Tomb  of  the  Exarch 
Isaac.     S.  Vitale.     S.  Giovanni  Evangelista. 

Afternoon.  Tomb  of  Theodoric  (S.  Maria  Rotonda),  and  S.  Maria 
in  Porto  Fuori. 

2nd  Day.  Morning.  Piazza  da  Aquila.  Battistero.  Duomo.  Chapel 
of  the  Arcivescovado.  Pinacoteca.  S.  Agata.  S.  Francesco.  Tomb 
of  Dante.  S.  ApoUinare  Nuovo.  The  Palace  of  Theodoric.  S.  Maria 
in  Porto. 

Afternoon.     Drive  to  S.  ApoUinare  in  Classe  and  the  Pineta. 

If  (which  will  prove  a  misery)  only  one  day  can  be  given 
to  Ravenna,  the  things  which  must  be  seen  are,  the  Mau- 
soleum of  Galla  Placidia,  the  Baptistery,  Chapel  of  the 
Arcivescovado,  Tomb  of  Dante,  S.  ApoUinare  Nuovo,  the 
Palace  of  Theodoric,  and  (by  a  carriage)  the  Tomb  of 
Theodoric,  S.  ApoUinare  in  Classe,  and  a  glimpse  of  the 
Pineta. 

The  Pineta  alone  is  inexhaustible. 

"The  great  monuments  of  Ravenna  all  come  within  less  than  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  of  each  other,  and  yet  they  fall  naturally  into 
three  periods.  First  come  the  monuments  of  the  Christian  Western 
Empire,  the  churches  and  tombs  of  the  family  of  Theodosius.  Next 
come  the  works  of  the  Gothic  Kingdom,  the  churches  and  the  mauso- 
leum of  Theodoric.  Next  come  the  buildings,  S.  Vitale  amongst  the 
foremost,  which  are  later  than  the  recovery  of  Italy  under  Justinian." — 
Freeman. 

The  Hotels  are  in  the  Strada  del  Monte.  Turning  left 
from  hence  by  the  Corso  Garibaldi,  the  first  street  on  the  left 
contains  the  Church  of  S.  Spirito,  or  S.  Teodoro,  which  was 


S.  MARIA  IN  COSMEDIN.  303 

a  basilica  ("ecclesia  matrix")  built  in  the  6th  century  by 
Theodoric  for  the  Arian  bishops.  It  has  three  aisles  separated 
by  14  grey  marble  columns  with  capitals  of  white  marble.  In 
the  I  St  chapel  on  the  left  is  a  curious  ambo,  with  sculptures 
of  the  6th  century.  In  the  court  in  front  of  this  church  is 
S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  the  octagonal  Arian  Baptistery  of 
S.  Spirito,  also  of  the  6th  century.  The  mosaics  were  added 
after  it  was  given  over  to  Catholic  worship.  They  represent 
the  Baptism  of  Christ,  whose  form  is  seen  through  the 
water,  surrounded  by  the  apostles,  their  figures  divided  by 
palm-trees. 

"  Of  doubtful  age  are  the  mosaics  in  S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  though  the 
decoration  of  that  building  belongs  almost  indisputably  to  the  time  of 
the  veritable  Byzantine  dominion  ;  probably,  therefore,  to  the  middle  of 
the  sixth  century.  We  here  observe  a  free  imitation  of  the  cupola 
mosaics  of  the  orthodox  church.  Surrounding  the  centre  picture  of  the 
Baptism  of  Christ  are  arranged  here,  as  well  as  in  them,  the  figures  of 
the  Twelve  Apostles,  bearing  crowns  in  their  hands,  except  that  their 
line  is  interrupted  on  the  east  side  by  a  golden  throne  with  a  cross.  The 
figures  are  no  longer  advancing,  but  stand  motionless,  yet  without  stiff- 
ness. The  heads  are  somewhat  more  uniformly  drawn,  but  the  draperies 
already  display  stiffness  of  line,  with  unmeaning  breaks  and  folds,  and 
a  certain  crudeness  of  light  and  shade.  The  decline  of  the  feeling  for 
decoration  shows  itself  not  only  in  the  unpleasant  interruption  of  the 
figures  caused  by  the  throne,  but  also  in  the  introduction  of  heavy  palm- 
trees  between  the  single  figures,  instead  of  the  graceful  acanthus-plant. 
In  the  centre  picture  the  naked  form  of  the  Christ  is  somewhat  stiffer, 
though  that  of  St.  John  is  precisely  the  same  as  in  the  Baptisteries  of 
the  orthodox  church.  On  the  other  hand,  the  river  Jordan  is  introduced 
as  a  third  person,  with  the  upper  part  of  the  figure  bare,  a  green  lower 
garment,  hair  and  beard  long  and  white,  two  red  crescent-shaped  horns 
on  his  head,  a  reed  in  his  hand,  and  an  urn  beside  him." — KUgler. 

Returning  to  the  Corso  Garibaldi,  we  must  take  the  next 
turn  on  the  left  (Strada  S.  Elia).  Here  (left)  is  the  Church  of 
S.  Giovanni  Battista,  also  called  S.  Giovanni  delle  Catine, 


304  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

which  was  built  in  438  by  Galla  Placidia  for  her  confessor 
S.  Barbatian,  and  consecrated  by  S.  Peter  Chrysologus.  It 
was,  however,  almost  entirely  rebuilt  in  1683,  and  nothing 
remains  of  the  old  building  but  the  curious  round  campanile, 
and  16  ancient  columns,  arranged  in  pairs,  in  the  interior. 
In  the  piazza  before  the  church  stand  three  great  sarcophagi. 
From  the  front  of  this  church  the  Strada  S.  Crispino  leads 
hence  almost  direct  to  the  Church  of  SS.  Nazaro  and  Celso, 
the  famous  Mausoleum  of  Galla  Placidia*  Outside  it 
would  not  be  recognized  as  a  church,  it  is  rather  like  a 
lowly  outhouse  of  brick,  the  front  not  rising  above  the 
level  of  the  wall  in  which  it  is  engrafted.  It  is  a  Latin 
cross,  40  ft.  long  and  2,2>  ft-  broad,  vaulted  throughout,  and 
with  a  cupola  at  the  cross.  In  the  centre  is  an  ancient  altar 
of  oriental  alabaster,  formerly  in  S.  Vitale,  and  referred 
to  as  existing  in  the  6th  century.  The  three  great  sarco- 
phagi are  the  only  tombs  of  the  Caesars,  oriental  or  occi- 
dental, which  remain  in  their  original  places.  That  in  the 
chancel,  of  Greek  marble,  contained  the  body  of  the  Empress 
Galla  Placidia.  Through  a  hole  (now  closed)  in  one  of  its 
sides  the  embalmed  body  of  the  Empress  might  once  be 
seen  (as  Charlemagne  at  Aix  la  Chapelle),  seated  in  her 
cypress-wood  chair  and  clad  in  her  imperial  robes,  but  in 
1577  some  boys  set  the  robes  on  fire  and  the  body  was  con- 
sumed. 

Placidia  was  daughter  of  the  great  Theodosius  by  his  second  wife 
Galla.  After  her  father's  death  at  Milan,  in  a.d.  395,  and  the  removal 
of  the  court  of  her  brother  Honorius  to  Ravenna,  she  continued  to  reside 
in  Rome.  She  was  there  during  the  siege  by  Alaric,  was  amongst  the 
prisoners,  and  afterwards  married  Adolphus,  King  of  the  Visigoths, 
brother  of  Alaric.     This  husband,  whom  she  loved,  was  murdered  in 

*  The  Sacristan  of  S.  Vitale  has  the  keys  of  the  Mausoleum. 


MAUSOLEUM  OF  GALLA  PLACIDIA. 


30s 


his  palace  at  Barcelona,  A.D.  414,  and  Placidia  herself  treated  with 
great  cruelty  by  his  assassin,  the  barbarian  Sarus.  Having  been  ran- 
somed by  her  brother  from  the  Goths  for  600,000  measures  of  wheat, 
she  was  shortly  afterwards  married  to  Constantius,  the  successful  general 
of  Honorius,  by  whom  she  became  the  mother  of  Honoria  and  Valentinian 
III.  Her  second  husband  was  associated  with  Honorius  in  the  govern- 
ment, but  died  in  the  7th  month  of  his  reign,  and,  after  a  violent  quarrel 
with  her  brother,  Placidia  and  her  children  were  forced  to  fly  to  Con- 
stantinople. Upon  the  death  of  Honorius  she  returned  to  capture 
Ravenna,  and  execute  justice  upon  John,  a  usurper  who  had  seized  the 
throne.  After  this  she  practically  ruled  the  Western  Empire  for  25 
years,  in  the  name  of  her  son,  the  feeble  Valentian  IH.,  who  was  only 
six  years  old  at  the  time  of  her  return  to  Ravenna,  and  during  this  time 
devoted  her  great  wealth  to  the  adornment  of  the  capital.  She  died  at 
Rome  in  440. 


Tomb  of  Galla  Placidia,  Ravenna. 


The  sarcophagus  in  the  right  transept  contains  the  body 

of  the  Emperor  Honorius  II.,  brother  of  Galla  Placidia; 

that  in  the  left  transept  the  body  of  Constantius  III.,  the 

second  husband  of  Galla  Placidia  and  father  of  Valentinian 
VOL.  II.  20 


3o6  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

III.  Near  the  entrance  are  two  smaller  sarcophagi  con- 
taining the  ashes  of  the  tutors  of  Valentinian  son  of  Placidia, 
and  of  her  daughter  Honoria. 

The  story  of  Honoria  is  a  tragic  romance.  Forbidden  to  make  any 
but  a  distasteful  and  political  marriage,  she  was  discovered  at  1 7  in  an 
intrigue  with  her  chamberlain  Eugenius,  and,  after  having  been  cruelly 
imprisoned  by  her  mother,  was  exiled  to  pass  the  rest  of  her  days  in  a 
weary  confinement  with  her  cousins  at  Constantinople,  the  sisters  of 
Theodosius,  Emperor  of  the  East.  Sick  of  her  life,  she  adopted  the 
desperate  remedy  of  writing  to  Attila,  King  of  the  Goths,  offering  him 
her  hand,  if  he  would  obtain  her  freedom.  He  listened  to  her  proposal, 
but  in  asking  her  from  her  family,  demanded  also  her  share  of  the  im- 
perial patrimony.  He  was  indignantly  refused  (the  right  of  female  suc- 
cession .being  denied),  and  Honoria,  removed  to  Italy,  was  condemned 
to  languish  in  a  perpetual  prison  for  the  rest  of  her  life. 

The  whole  of  the  roof  is  covered  with  mosaics  of  the  5th 
century. 

"  Before  A.D.  450,  we  may  consider  the  rich  decorations  of  the  monu- 
mental chapel  of  Galla  Placidia,  preserved  entire  with  all  its  mosaics  ; 
and  therefore  alone  fitted  to  give  us  an  idea  of  the  general  decorations 
of  the  ornamented  buildings  of  that  period.  This  chapel  is  built  in  the 
form  of  a  cross,  the  centre  being  occupied  by  a  square  elevation,  archetl 
over  in  the  form  of  the  segment  of  a  cupola :  aisles  and  transepts  termin- 
ate above  in  waggon  roofs.  The  lower  walls  were  formerly  faced  with 
marble  slabs.  From  the  cornice  upwards  begin  the  mosaics,  chiefly 
gold  upon  a  dark-blue  ground,  which  binds  the  whole  together  with  a 
pleasant  effect.  Upon  the  arches  are  ornaments,  which,  though  not  in 
the  antique  taste,  belong,  in  point  of  elegance,  to  the  most  excellent  of 
their  kind.  On  the  lunettes,  at  the  tennination  of  the  transepts,  are 
seen  golden  stags  advancing  between  green-gold  arabesques  upon  a  blue 
ground  towards  a  fountain — an  emblem  of  the  conversion  of  the  heathen. 
In  the  lunette  over  the  entrance  of  the  nave  we  observe  the  Good  Shep- 
herd, of  a  very  youthful  character,  seated  among  his  flock  ;  while  in  the 
chief  lunette  over  the  altar  Christ  appears  full  length  with  the  flag  of 
victory,  burning  the  writings  of  the  heretics  (or  of  the  philosophers) 
upon  a  grate.  On  the  walls  of  the  elevated  portion  before  alluded  to 
are  seen  the  Apostles,  two-and-two,  without  any  particular  attributes  ; 
between,  and  below  each,  a  pair  of  doves  sipping  out  of  basins ;  and 
finally,  in  the  cupola  itseF,  between  large  stars,  a  richly  decorated  cross 


MAUSOLEUM  OF  GALLA  PLACIDIA.  307 

and  the  sjrmbols  of  the  Evangelists.  Upon  the  whole,  the  combination 
of  symbols  and  historical  characters  in  these  mosaics  evinces  no  definite 
principle  or  consistently  carried  out  thought ;  and,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Good  Shepherd  the  figures  are  of  inferior  character.  At  the  same 
time,  in  point  of  decorative  harmony,  the  effect  of  the  whole  is  incom- 
parable. On  that  account  we  may  the  more  lament  the  loss  of  the  very 
extensive  mosaics  of  S.  Giovanni  Evangelista,  also  built  by  the  Empress 
Galla  Placidia." — Kiigler. 

"  The  Mausoleum  of  Galla  Placidia  presents  by  far  the  most  inter- 
esting and  perfect  example  of  early  Symbolism — its  architecture,  its 
mosaics,  and  its  tombs  thoroughly  harmonizing.  The  mosaics  are 
peculiarly  beautiful ;  in  one  of  them  the  Good  Shepherd  is  represented 
feeding  one  of  his  sheep  with  one  hand,  holding  a  small  cross  in  the 
other.  Another  represents  Our  Saviour,  the  youthful  head  with  a 
cross  in  his  hand,  standing  beside  a  brazier  of  burning  coals,*  beyond 
which  appears  an  open  scrinium,  or  book-case,  containing  rolls  of  the 
Gospels,  each  marked  with  the  Evangelist's  name  ;  the  cross  glitters  in 
a  heaven  of  stars  in  the  centre  of  the  dome,  and  the  emblematical 
animals  of  the  Evangelists  watch  around  it ;  other  symbols,  also,  are 
introduced,  all  most  appropriate.  But  the  tombs  are  still  more  interest- 
ing, as  (with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  a  few  busts)  the  earliest  speci- 
mens existing  of  Byzantine  sculpture  ;  taken  together  with  those  of  Galla 
Placidia's  confession,  S.  Barbatian,  and  of  the  Archbishop  Rinaldo,  in 
the  chapel  of  the  south  transept  of  the  Uuomo,  and  those  of  the  eight 
archbishops  of  Ravenna,  who  lived  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries, 
now  ranged  in  the  aisles  of  S.  Apollinare  di  fuori,  they  will  enable  you 
to  form  a  satisfactory  idea  of  its  merits  during  these  early  ages.  They 
are,  for  the  most  part,  fairly  executed  for  the  time,  especially  those  done 
by  order  of  Placidia.  Nothing  can  be  more  striking  than  the  contrast 
they  present  in  their  simplicity  to  the  tombs  of  the  catacombs,  so  over- 
loaded with  typical  compositions.  In  these  everything  is  symbolical. 
A  cross,  with  two  birds  perched  upon  it — or  supporting  the  monogram 
of  Christ — between  two  lighted  candles,  or  two  sheep ;  birds  or  stags 
drinking  at  a  fountain,  which  springs  up  below  the  monogram  enclosed 
in  a  wreath, — ^or  a  lamb  carrying  a  cross  and  standing  on  the  Mount  of 
Paradise — are  the  most  frequent  subjects  ;  occasionally,  but  very  rarely, 
the  beardless  figure  of  our  Saviour  occurs,  seated  on  his  throne.  Of 
historical  subjects,  properly  so  called,  none  are  to  be  met  with  in  the 
whole  series." — Lindsay's  Christian  Art. 

Passing  (left)  the  Church  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore  (built  first 

*  Probably  ii;  allusion  to  Is:iiah  vi.  6. 


3oS  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

in  526,  but  entirely  modernized,  except  its  round  campanile, 
in  the  i6th  century,  only  16  ancient  columns  remaining  in 
the  interior),  we  reach  (right)  the  magnificent  Church  of  S. 
Vitale.  This  masterpiece  of  Byzantine  architecture,  exter- 
nally a  mass  of  rugged  brick,  was  begun  in  526,  the  year  of 
the  death  of  Theodoric,  under  the  superintendence  of  the 
Archbishop  S.  Ecclesius  and  the  Julia7ius  Argentarius  under 
whom  S.  ApoUinare  in  Classe  was  also  built.  Its  resem- 
blance to  the  recently  erected  S.  Sophia  at  Constantinople 
reveals  its  eastern  origin.  It  was  erected  in  honour  of  S. 
Vitale  upon  the  place  where  he  suffered  martjTdom. 

"According  to  the  Ambrosian  legend,  S.  Vitalis,  the  famous  patron 
saint  of  Ravenna,  was  the  father  of  SS.  Gervasius  and  Protasius,  served 
in  the  army  of  the  Emperor  Nero,  and  was  one  of  the  converts  of  S. 
Peter.  Seeing  a  Christian  martyr  led  to  death,  whose  courage  appeared 
to  be  sinking,  he  exhorted  him  to  endure  bravely  to  the  end,  carried  off 
his  body,  and  buried  it  honourably  ;  for  which  crime,  as  it  was  then  con- 
sidered, he  was  first  tortured,  and  then  burned  alive.  His  wife  Valeria, 
and  his  two  sons  Gervasius  and  Protasius,  fled  to  Milan." — JamesotCs 
Sacred  Art. 

The  Church  (which  was  consecrated  in  a.d.  547)  is 
approached  by  a  court,  where  there  is  a  pretty  portico  with 
ornamented  pillars.  The  interior  is  octagonal,  and  is  sur- 
rounded by  eight  round-headed  arches  resting  on  wide  piers, 
which  each  contain  semi-circular  recesses,  one  story  above 
the  other,  with  three  small  arches.  Above  is  a  semi-circular 
cupola,  painted  in  the  last  century  with  coarse  frescoes  which 
greatly  interfere  with  the  harmony  of  this  building,  "  where 
Justinian  and  Theodora  still  dimly  blaze  in  the  gold  and 
purple  of  the  mosaics."* 

"  The  chief  architectural  novelty  and  leading  feature  in  this  building, 

*  Milman. 


^.   VITALE. 


309 


is  the  dome.  No  vaulting  of  any  kind  had  ever  been  hitherto  em- 
ployed in  the  roofs  of  churches,  much  less  that  most  skilful  and  admired 
of  all  vaulting,  the  cupola,  or  dome  ;  a  mode  of  covering  buildings  per- 
fectly well  understood  by  the  Romans,  but  discontinued  as  art  declined, 
and,  for  the  first  time,  reproduced  by  the  Greek  architects  of  Con- 
stantinople, in  the  instance  of  S.  Sophia.  If  it  is  difficult  to  support  the 
downward  pressure,  and  outward  thrust,  of  ordinary  vaulting,  how  much 
more  is  required  when  the  pressure  has  to  be  resisted  at  every  point, 
and  the  circle  above  has,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  to  be  connected  with 
a  square  below  J  This  was  accomplished,  in  the  construction  of  S. 
Sophia,  by  means  of  what  are  technically  called  pendentives  ;  brackets, 
on  a  large  scale,  projecting  from  the  walls  at  the  angles,  and  carried  up 
to  the  base  of  the  dome.  At  S.  Vitale,  which  is  not  a  square,  but  an 
octagon,  a  series  of  small  arches  is  employed,  instead  of  pendentives, 
but  acting  upon  the  same  principle.  By  this  expedient  the  dome  is 
united  to  the  body  of  the  edifice.     The  thrust  has,  then,  to  be  resisted 


At  S.  Vitale,  Ravenna. 


by  the  thickness  of  the  walls  ;  and  the  downward  pressure  to  be  sup- 
ported by  arches  and  piers.  In  most  cases  the  pendentives  are  exposed 
to  view  ;  but  at  S.  Vitale,  the  mechanical  contrivances  are  concealed  by 


3IO  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

a  ceiling.  It  is  always  an  object  to  diminish  the  weight  of  the  dome  ; 
and  with  this  view  materials  of  the  lightest  kind  were  employed  in  its 
construction.  At  S.  Vitale  the  dome  is  composed  of  a  spiral  line  of 
earthen  vessels,  inserted  into  each  other ;  and  where  the  lateral  thrust 
ceases,  and  the  vertical  pressure  begins,  larger  jars  are  introduced  in  an 
upright  position.  The  first  re-appearance  of  a  dome  in  Italy  could  not 
fail  to  excite  admiration,  and  forms  an  epoch  in  the  ecclesiastical  archi- 
tecture of  the  country." — H.  Gaily  Kttight. 

The  lower  walls  of  the  church  are  coated  with  great  slabs 
of  Greek  marble.  The  red  marble  with  which  the  piers  are 
inlaid  is  quite  splendid.  The  carving  of  the  capitals  is  of  the 
most  exquisite  beauty ;  these  blocks,  sculptured  in  bas-relief, 
are  a  Byzantine  feature,  invented  at  Constantinople.  Many  of 
the  sculptured  fragments  in  different  parts  of  the  church  are 
of  great  interest,  especially  reliefs  (to  the  right  of  the  high 
altar  between  the  pillars  of  Verde  Antico)  representing  some 
genii  bearing  a  shell,  and  the  throne  of  Neptune  with  a  sea- 
monster  beneath  it ;  and  the  reHef  called  the  "  Apotheosis  of 
Augustus  "  near  the  entrance  of  the  Sacristy.  The  statues 
and  pictures  here  are  unimportant ;  the  best  of  the  latter 
are  those  by  the  native  family  of  Longhi  (father,  son,  and 
daughter)  in  the  Sacristy.  The  pavement  has  been  raised 
3  feet,  and  the  adjoining  street  is  6  feet  above  the  original 
level. 

But  the  great  feature  of  all  is  the  glorious  Mosaics  of  the 
time  of  Justinian  and  Theodora,  still  almost  as  fresh  as 
when  they  were  erected. 

"  Unfortunately,  the  decorations  of  the  principal  tribune,  and  those 
of  the  quadrangular  arched  space  before  it,  are  all  that  have  been 
preserved.  They  refer  in  subject  to  the  foundation  and  consecration  of 
the  church,  with  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Gold  grounds 
and  blue  grounds  alternate  here,  the  former  being  confined  to  the  apsis 
and  to  two  of  the  four  divisions  of  the  arched  space.     In  the  semi-dome 


S.    VITALE. 


3" 


of  the  apsis  appears  a  still  very  youthful  Christ,  seated  upon  the  globe  of 
the  world  ;    on  each  side  two  angels,  with  S.  Vitalis  as  patron  of  the 


At  S.  Vitale. 


church,  and  Bishop  Ecclesius  as  founder,  the  latter  carrying  a  model  of 
the  building.  Below  are  the  four  rivers  of  Paradise,  flowing  through 
green  meadows,  while  the  golden  ground  is  striped  with  purple  clouds. 
The  figures  are  all  noble  and  dignified,  especially  the  Christ,  whose 
ideal  youlhfulness  scarcely  recurs  after  that  time.  In  the  drapery  there 
is  much  that  is  conventional,  especially  in  the  mode  of  shadowing, 
though  a  certain  truthfulness  still  prevails. 

"Upon  the  perpendicular  wall  of  the  apsis  appear  two  large  cere- 
monial representations  upon  a  gold  ground,  which,  as  the  almost  sole 
surviving  specimens  of  the  higher  style  of  profane  painting,  are  of  great 
interest,  and  as  examples  of  costume,  quite  invaluable.  The  picture  on 
the  right  represents  the  relation  in  which  the  Emperor  Justinian  stood 
to  the  church — the  figures  as  large  as  life.  In  splendid  attire,  laden 
with  the  diadem  and  with  a  purple  and  gold-embroidered  mantle, 
fastened  with  a  monstrous  fibula,  is  seen  the  Emperor,  advancing,  his 
hands  full  of  costly  gifts  ;  his  haughty,  bloated,  vulgar,  yet  regular 
countenance,  with  the  eyebrows  elevated  towards  the  temple,  is  seen  in 


312  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

front.  To  him  sttcceed  a  number  of  courtiers,  doubtless  also  portraits, 
ami  next  to  them  the  easiJy  recognizable,  fair,  Germanic  body-guard, 
with  sword  and  shield.  Archbishop  Maximian,  with  his  clergy,  is  ad- 
vancing to  meet  the  Emperor.  He,  also,  with  his  bald  head,  and  the 
pathetic  half-closed  slits  of  eyes,  is  a  characteristic  portrait  of  the  time. 
Opposite,  on  the  left,  is  the  Empress  Theodora,  surrounded  by  the 
gorgeously  attired  ladies  and  eunuchs  of  the  court,  in  the  act  of  entering 
the  church.  Tlie  Eiwpress  is  also  clad  in  the  dark  iriolet  (pnrple) 
imperial  mantle,  and  from  her  grotesque  diadem  hangs  a  whole  cascade 
of  beads  and  jewels,  enclosing  a  narrow,  pale,  highly  significant  face,  in 
whose  large,  hollow  eyes,  aind  small  sensual  roortth,  the  whole  history 
of  that  clever,  imperious,  voluptuoas,  and  merciless  woman  is  written. 
A  chamberlain  before  her  is  drawing  back  a  richly-embroidered  caytain, 
so  as  to  exhibit  the  entrance-court  of  a  church,  betokened  as  such  by  its 
cleansing  foujitain.  Justinian  and  Theodora  are  distingnished  by  bright 
nimbuses,  a  homage  which  the  artist  of  that  time  eouM  scarcely  with- 
hold, since  be  evidently  knew  no  other  form  of  flatter}'. 

"  Of  somewhat  inferior  execution  are  tlie  mosaics  of  the  lofty  quad- 
rangular sjDace  before  the  apsis,  representhig  the  Old  Testament  symbols 
of  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass.  On  the  vanltiing,  between  green  and  gold 
tendrils  npon  a  blue  ground,  and  green  upon  a  gold  ground,  are  four 
flying  angels  upon  globes,  resembling  antique  Victories  ;  below  them,  in 
the  four  corners,  are  four  peacocks,  as  emblems  of  Eternity.  On  the 
upper  Avail,  above  the  apsis,  two  angels,  gracefully  hovering,  are  holding 
a  shield  with  the  sign  of  the  Redeemer ;  on  each  side,  blazing  with 
jewels,  of  which  they  are  entirely  constructed,  are  the  cities  of  Jerusalem 
and  Bethlehem,  with  vine-tendrils  and  biuls,  on  a  blue  ground,  above 
them.  On  either  side  wall,  in  an  architectural  framework,  which  we 
are  at  a  loss  to  describe,  are  the  subjects  we  have  already  mentioned!. 
Two  semicircles  contain  the  principal  subjects,  viz.,  the  bloody  and 
bloodless  sacrifice  of  the  Old  Covenant.  We  see  Abraham  carrying  out 
provisions  to  the  three  young  men  in  vfhite  garments,  who  are  seated  at 
a  table  under  a  leafleSvS  bat  budding  tree,  while  Sarah  stands  behind  the 
door  laughing.  Then,  again,  we  l>ehold  the  Patriarch  on  the  point  of 
offering  up  his  son  Isaac,  who  kneels  naked  before  him.  Then  Abel  (an 
excellent  and  perfectly  antique  shepherd  figure)  in  the  act  of  holding  up 
his  sacrifice  of  the  firstling  of  the  flock  before  a  wooden  hut,  while  Mel- 
chizedec  (designated  by  a  nimbus  as  the  symbol  of  Christ),  advancing 
from  a  temple  in  the  form  of  a  Basilica,  pronounces  a  blessing  over  the 
bread  and  wine.  The  pictures  then  continue  further  the  history  of  the 
Old  Covenant,  showing  Moses,  who,  as  the  prefiguration  of  Christ,  is 
here  represented  as  a  youth  \  then  again,  as  he  first  appears  under  the 


S.    VI  TALE.  313 

character  of  a  shepherd  ;  and  lastly,  as  he  is  receiving  the  tables  of  the 
Law  upon  the  Mount,  while  the  people  are  waiting  below.  Isaiah  and 
Jeremiah,  grey-headed  men  in  white  robes,  appear  to  be  vehemently 
agitated  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy ;  and  further  upward,  in  similar  gestures 
of  inspiration,  are  seen  the  Four  Evangelists,  seated  with  their  emblems, 
S.  Matthew  looking  up  to  the  angel  as  if  to  a  vision.  Above,  the 
subject  is  closed  by  fine  arabesques,  vine-tendrils,  and  birds.  Finally, 
in  the  front  archivolt  next  the  dome  are  thirteen  medallions  between 
elegant  arabesques  upon  a  blue  ground,  containing  the  portraits  of 
Christ  and  the  Apostles ;  individual,  portrait-like  heads,  several  of 
which  have  suffered  a  later  restoration.  The  execution  of  the  whole 
front  space  is  partially  rude  and  superficial,  especially  in  the  prophets 
and  evangelists.  In  drawing,  also,  these  portions  are  inferior  to  the 
works  in  the  apsis,  although,  in  that  respect,  they  still  excel  those  of  the 
following  century.  In  the  delineation  of  animals,  for  example  in  the 
Lion  of  S.  Mark,  a  sound  feeling  for  nature  is  still  evinced  ;  the  same 
in  the  tree  before  Abraham's  dwelling.  In  many  parts  the  background 
landscape  is  elevated  in  a  very  remarkable  manner,  consisting  of  steep 
rocks  covered  with  verdure,  an  evident  attempt  to  imitate  the  forms  of 
reality.  Unfortunately  nothing  more  is  preserved  of  the  mosaics  of  the 
cupola  and  the  rest  of  the  church." — Kiigler. 

To  those  who  are  unacquainted  with  their  history,  and 
whose  interest  in  them  is  awakened  by  their  portraits,  the 
following  character  of  Justinian  and  Theodora  will  not  be 
unwelcome : — 

"  Under  Justinian,  the  nephew,  colleague,  and  heir  of  Justin,  the 
Roman  Empire  appears  suddenly  to  resume  her  ancient  majesty  and 
power.  The  signs  of  a  just,  able,  and  vigorous  administration,  internal 
peace,  prosperity,  conquest,  and  splendour,  surrounded  the  master  of  the 
Roman  world.  The  greatest  generals,  since  the  days  perhaps  of  Trajan, 
Belisarius  and  Narses,  appear  at  the  head  of  the  Roman  armies. 
Persia  was  kept  at  bay  during  several  campaigns,  if  not  continuously 
successful,  yet  honourable  to  the  arms  of  Rome.  The  tide  of  barbarian 
conquerors  rolled  back.  Africa,  the  lUyrian  and  Dalmatian  provinces, 
Sicily,  Italy,  with  the  ancient  capital,  were  again  under  the  empire  of 
Rome  ;  the  Vandal  kingdom,  the  Gothic  kingdom,  fell  before  the  irresist- 
ible generals  of  the  East.  The  frontiers  of  the  empire  were  defended  with 
fortifications  constructed  at  an  enormous  cost.  Justinian  aspired  to  be 
the  legislator  of  mankind  ;  a  vast  system  of  jurisprudence  embodied  the 


314  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

wisdom  of  ancient  and  of  imperial  statutes,  mingled  with  some  of  the 
benign  influences  of  Christianity,  of  which  the  author  might  almost  have 
been  warranted  in  the  presumptuous  vaticination,  that  it  would  exercise 
an  unrepealed  authority  to  the  latest  ages.  The  cities  of  the  empire  were 
adorned  with  buildings,  civil  as  well  as  religious,  of  great  magnificence 
and  apparent  durability,  which,  with  the  comprehensive  legislation, 
might  recall  the  peaceful  days  of  the  Antonines.  The  empire,  at  least 
at  first,  was  restored  to  religious  unity  :  Catholicism  resumed  its  sway, 
and  Arianism,  so  long  its  rival,  died  out  in  remote  and  neglected  con- 
gregations. 

"  The  creator  of  this  new  epoch  in  Roman  greatness,  at  least  he  who 
filled  the  throne  during  its  creation,  the  Emperor  Justinian,  united  in 
himself  the  most  opposite  vices— insatiable  rapacity  and  lavish  prodigal- 
ity, intense  pride  and  contemptible  weakness,  unmeasured  ambition 
and  dastardly  cowardice.  He  was  the  luxurious  slave  of  his  empress, 
whom,  after  she  had  ministered  to  the  licentious  pleasures  of  the  popu- 
lace as  a  courtesan,  and  as  an  actress  m  the  most  immodest  exhibitions, 
in  defiance  of  decency,  of  honour,  of  the  remonstrances  of  his  friends, 
and  of  religion,  he  had  made  the  partner  of  his  throne.  In  the  Chris- 
tian emperor  seemed  to  meet  the  crimes  of  those,  who  won  or  secured 
their  empire  by  the  assassination  of  all  whom  they  feared,  the  passion 
for  public  diversions,  without  the  accomplishments  of  Nero,  or  the 
brute  strength  of  Commodus,  the  dotage  of  Claudius.  The  imperious 
Theodora,  even  if  from  exhaustion  or  lassitude  she  discontinued,  or  at 
least  condescended  to  disguise,  those  vices  which  dishonoured  her  hus- 
band, in  her  cruelties  knew  no  restraint.  And  these  cruelties  were 
exercised  in  order  to  gratify  her  rapacity,  if  not  in  sheer  caprice,  as  a 
substitute  for  that  excitement  which  had  lost  its  keenness  and  its  zest. 
Theodora,  a  bigot  without  faith,  a  heretic,  it  might  almost  be  presumed, 
without  religious  convictions,  by  the  superior  strength  of  her  character, 
domineered  in  this  as  in  other  respects  over  the  whole  court,  mingled  in 
all  religious  intrigues,  appointed  to  fhe  highest  ecclesiastical  dignities, 
sold  the  Papacy  itself.  Her  charities  alone  (if  we  except  her  masculine 
courage,  and  no  doubt  that  great  ability  which  mastered  the  inferior 
mind  of  her  husband),  if  they  sprung  from  lingering  womanly  tenderness, 
or  that  inextinguishable  kindness  which  Christianity  sometimes  in- 
fuses into  the  hardest  hearts,  if  they  were  not  designed  as  a  deliberate 
compromise  with  heaven  for  her  vices  and  cruelties,  may  demand  our 
admiration.  The  feeling  which  induced  the  degraded  victim  of  the 
lusts  of  men  to  found,  perhaps,  the  first  penitentiaries  for  her  sisters  in 
that  wretched  class,  as  it  shows  her  superior  to  the  base  fear  of  awaken- 
ing remembrances  of  her  own  former  shame,  may  likewise  be  considered 


TOMB  OF  THE  EXARCH  ISAAC. 


315 


as  an  enforced  homage  to  female  virtue." — Milman,  Hist,   of  Latin 
Christianity. 

It  lends  an  additional  interest  to  S.  Vitale,  that  it  was  so 
admired  by  Charlemagne,  as  to  be  adopted  by  hhu  as  the 
model  for  his  famous  church  at  Aix  la  Chapelle. 

In  the  passage,  which  leads  from  the  basilica  to  the  street 
towards  S.  Maria  Maggiore,  is  the  Tomb  of  the  Exarch  Isaac, 
who  died  here  in  641  (8th  Exarch  of  Ravenna),  It  is 
adorned  with  reliefs  of  Daniel  in  the  Lions'  Den,  the  Raising 
of  Lazarus,  and,  on  the  front,  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi, 
the  last  very  curious — the  Magi  running  as  hard  as  they 
can  with  their  gifts,  their  cloaks  floating  on  the  wind. 


Tomb  of  the  Exarch  Isaac. 


Following  the  Strada  S.  Vitale,  and  turning  to  the  right, 
we  reach  the  Church  of  S.  Domenico,  a  basilica  founded  by 
one  of  the  Exarchs,  but  quite  modernized.  It  contains  the 
grave  of  Luca  Longhi  the  painter,  and  : — 


3i6  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Ri°kt,  yd  Chapel.  Luca  Longhi  (1507 — 1580).  The  Finding  of 
the  True  Cross. 

Choir.  Niccolb  Rondinelli  (one  of  the  best  pupils  of  Giov.  Bellini). 
S.  Domenico,  S.  Peter. 

Chapel  Left  of  High  Altar.  A  curious  "miraculous"  crucifix,  of 
wood  covered  with  linen,  which  is  said  to  have  sweated  blood  during 
the  battle  of  Ravenna, 

Left,  2nd  Chapel.  Luca  Longhi.  The  fifteen  mysteries  of  the 
Rosary. 

Close  to  this  church  is  that  of  6".  Michde  in  Affrisco, 
built  in  530,  but  modernized. 

In  the  Stradone  della  Stazione,  which  continues  the 
Strada  del  Monte,  is  the  Church  of  S.  Giovanni  Evangelista 
or  delloc  Sagra,  built  in  425  by  Galla  Placidia  in  fulfilment 
of  a  vow  that  she  would  build  a  church  in  honour  of  S.  John 
the  Evangelist,  if  she  were  saved  from  shipwreck  with  her 
children  on  a  voyage  from  Constantinople  to  Ravenna.  In 
front  of  the  church  is  an  Atrium  approached  by  a  very  in- 
teresting Gothic  portal  of  1300.  Its  sculptures  record  the 
story  of  Galla  Placidia  longing  for  a  relic  of  the  Evangelist 
wherewith  to  enrich  her  church,  and  receiving  one  of  his 
sandals  in  a  vision.  In  the  lower  part  of  the  relief  she  is 
represented  embracing  the  feet  of  S.  John  as  he  appears  to 
her ;  in  the  upper  she  presents  the  sandal  he  has  left  to  the 
Saviour  and  S.  John,  her  confessor  S.  Barbatian  and  others 
standing  by.  The  church  has  three  aisles,  and  retains  its 
24  ancient  columns  of  grey  marble.     It  contains  : — 

Left,  a/.h  Chapel.'  The  frescoes  of  the  vaulting  are,  with  great 
uncertainty,  attributed  to  Giotto.  In  the  centre  is  a  medallion,  con- 
taining the  Lamb  with  a  cross  ;  in  each  of  the  four  rectangular  divisions 
a  Doctor  of  the  Church  and  an  Evangelist,  facing  each  other,  and,  above 
them,  the  emblems  of  the  Evangelists.  Those  who  follow  Crowe  and 
Cavalcaselle  will  maintain  that  "there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  authen- 
ticity of  this  fresco,  in  which  Giotto  exhibited  all  the  qualities  of  which 


PIAZZA  MAGGIORE,  P.  DELL  AQUILA. 


317 


he  was  so  complete  a  master  in  his  prime."  The  frescoes  have  been 
ruined  by  "  restoration." 

6M  Chapel  {left).  Here  are  the  only  remains  of  the  once  magnificent 
mosaics  of  Galla  Placidia  in  this  church,  a  fraginent  representing  the 
storm  and  the  vow  of  the  empress. 

Apse.  Beneath  the  high  altar  repose  SS.  Canzius,  Canzanius,  and 
Canzianilla.     The  confessional  beneath  is  of  the  5th  century. 

In  the  Cat7ipanile  are  two  bells  cast  by  Robert  of  Saxony, 
1208. 


At  the  end  of  the  Strada  del  Monte  is  the  Piazza  Mag- 
gtore,  representing  the  ancient  Forum.  It  has  (now  adorned 
with  figures  of  S.  Apollinaris  and  S.  Vitale)  the  columns 
which  mark  the  towns  which  at  some  time  have  been  under 
the  Venetian  rule.  Between  them  is  a  seated  statue  of 
Clement  XII.  (1730 — 1740).  Several  palaces  encircle  the 
square,  chiefly  occupied  for  government  or  civic  offices. 
The  Palazzo  Cojnmunale  is  adorned  with  busts  of  seven  Car- 
dinal Legates,  and  part  of  the  gates  of  Pavia,  seized  by  the 
troops  of  Ravenna.  The  beautiful  sculptured  capitals  of  the 
columns  in  the  colonnade  deserve  careful  attention.  They 
are  supposed  to  be  remains  of  a  temple  of  Hercules. 

Beyond  the  Piazza  Maggiore,  is  the  little  Piazza  delF 
Aquila,  containing  a  column  in  honour  of  Cardinal  Gaetani, 
and  surmounted  by  an  eagle  which  was  his  badge.  The 
name  of  the  square  will  bring  to  mind  an  earlier  connection 
of  tlie  eagle  with  Ravenna,  as  the  arms  of  the  Polentani, 
who  ruled  it  in  the  latter  part  of  the  13th  century  : — 

"  Ravenna  sta  come  e  stata  moiti  anni  : 
L'aquila  da  Polenta  la  si  cova, 
Si  che  Cervia  ricuopre  co'  suoi  vanni." 

Dante,  Ittf.  xxvii. 


3i8  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Hence,  the  Strada  del  Duomo  leads  to  the  cathedral 
square. 

On  the  left  is  the  Baptistery  or  Church  of  S.  Gioi>anni  in 
Fonte* — the  most  interesting  of  all  ancient  baptisteries — built 
A.D.  451,  by  Archbishop  Neo.  It  is  octangular  and  sur- 
rounded by  two  tiers  of  arches,  with  columns  of  different 
sizes  and  orders,  probably  collected  from  pagan  edifices. 
It  is  little  altered  since  the  5th  century,  except  by  the 
raising  of  the  pavement,  which  has  buried  the  bases  of  the 
pillars.  There  is  water  beneath.  In  the  midst  is  the  eight- 
sided  baptismal  font  made  with  slabs  of  porphyry  and 
white  marble,  with  an  ambo  for  the  officiating  priest.  In 
one  of  the  recesses  is  a  curious  ciborium  and  altar,  said  to 
contain  the  head  of  the  martyr  S.  Felix;  in  another  is  a 
font,  said  to  have  belonged  to  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  in  (the 
suburb)  Cesarea,  and  to  have  been  afterwards  used  by  S. 
ApoUinaris  in  the  purification  of  Gentile  converts.  The 
cupola  blazes  with  the  ancient  mosaics. 

"The  earliest  mosaics  of  the  fifth  century  with  which  we  are 
acquainted,  namely,  the  internal  decorations  of  the  Baptistery  at 
Ravenna,  are,  in  respect  of  figures  as  well  as  ornament,  among  the 
most  remarkable  of  their  kind.  A  double  row  of  arches  occupies  the 
walls :  in  the  spandrils  of  the  lower  ones,  between  splendid  gold 
arabesques  on  a  blue  ground,  are  seen  the  figures  of  the  eight  prophets, 
which,  in  general  conception,  especially  in  the  motives  of  the  draperies, 
are  in  no  way  distinguishable  from  the  later  antique  works.  Though  the 
execution  is  light  and  bold,  the  chiaroscuro  is  throughout  tolerably  com- 
plete. In  the  upper  tier  of  arches,  between  rich  architectural  decora- 
tions, a  series  of  stucco  reliefs  occupy  the  place  of  the  mosaics.  The 
subjects  of  these  are  male  and  female  saints,  with  rams,  peacocks,  sea- 
horses, stags,  and  griffins  above ;  chiefly  white  upon  a  red,  yellow,  or 
grey  ground.  At  the  base  of  the  cupola  is  a  rich  circle  of  mosaics  con- 
sisting of  four  altars,  with  the  four  open  books  of  the  Gospel,  four 
thrones  with  crosses,  eight  Episcopal  sedilia  beneath  the  conch-niches, 

*  Entered  by  a  low  door  close  by. 


S.  GIOVANNI  IN  FONTE.  319 

and  eight  elegant  tombs  surmounted  with  garlands.*  All  these 
subjects  are  divided  symmetrically,  and  set  in  a  framework  of 
architecture  of  beautiful  and  almost  Pompeian  character.  Within  this 
circle  appear  the  chief  representations — the  twelve  Apostles,  colossal  in 
size;  and  in  the  centre,  as  a  circular  picture,  the  Baptism  of  Christ. 
The  apostles  stand  upon  a  green  base,  representing  the  earth,  with  a  blue 
background,  under  a  white  gold -decorated  drapery,  which  embraces 
the  whole  circle  of  the  cupola,  and  is  divided  into  compartments  by 
gold  acanthus  plants.  The  robes  of  the  apostles  are  of  gold  stuff ;  and 
as  they  step  along  in  easy,  dignified  measure,  bearing  crowns  in  their 
hands,  they  form  a  striking  contrast  to  the  stiff  immobility  of  later 
mosaics.  The  heads,  like  most  of  those  in  the  Catacomb  pictures,  are 
somewhat  small,  and,  at  the  same  time,  by  no  means  youthfully  ideal  or 
general,  but  rather  livingly  individual,  and  even  of  that  late  Roman 
character  of  ugliness  which  is  so  observable  in  portraits  of  the  time.  In 
spite  of  their  walking  action,  the  heads  are  not  given  in  profile,  but  in 
front,  which,  in  a  work  otherwise  of  such  excellence,  is  decidedly  not 
ascribable  to  any  inability  of  drawing  on  the  part  of  the  artist,  but  to 
the  desire  of  giving  the  spectator  as  much  as  possible  of  the  holy 
countenances.  In  default  of  a  definite  type  for  the  apostles — the  first 
traces  of  which  can  at  most  be  discerned  in  the  figure  of  S.  Peter,  who 
appears  with  grey  hair,  though  not  as  yet  with  a  bald  head — they  are 
distinguished  by  inscriptions.  Especially  fine  in  conception  and  execu- 
tion are  the  draperies,  which  in  their  .gentle  flow  and  grandeur  of 
massing,  recall  the  best  Roman  work.  As  in  the  antique  representations 
of  Victory,  the  folds  appear  to  be  agitated  by  a  supernatural  wind.  In 
the  centre  picture — the  Baptism  of  Christ — the  character  of  the  nude  is 
still  easy  and  unconstrained,  the  lower  part  of  the  Saviour's  figure  being 
seen  through  the  water — a  mode  of  treating  this  subject  which  continued 
late  into  the  middle  ages,  probably  on  account  of  the  artist's  objection 
to  give  any  incomplete  representation  of  the  Saviour's  form.  We  are  led 
to  conclude  this  from  the  fact  that  in  other  figures,  where  no  such 
scruples  existed,  that  part  of  the  person  which  is  in  the  water  is  generally 
rendered  invisible.  The  head  of  Christ,  with  the  long  divided  hair, 
corresponds  in  great  measure  with  the  already  described  Catacomb  type. 
The  whole  is  still  treated  somewhat  in  the  spirit  of  ancient  fable,  the 
figure  being  represented  simply,  without  nimbus  or  glory,  with  a  cross 
between  the  Saviour  and  the  Baptist ;  while  the  river  Jordan,  under  the 
form  of  a  river-god,  rises  out  of  the  water  on  the  left,  in  the  act  of  pre- 
senting a  cloth.  The  angels,  which  in  later  representations  perform 
this  office,  occur  but  rarely  at  this  time.     The  combined  ornamental 

*  Interesting  as  an  early  pictorial  representation  of  the  earliest  memorial  a'.tar- 
tombs. 


320  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

effect,  the  arrangement  of  the  figures,  and  the  delicate  feeling  for  colour 
pervading  the  whole,  enable  us  to  form  an  idea  of  the  genuine  splendour 
and  beauty  which  have  been  lost  to  the  world  in  the  destruction  of  the 
later  decorated  buildings  of  Imperial  Rome. " — Kiigler. 

In  the  court  close  to  the  Baptistery  are  a  number  of 
ancient  sarcophagi. 

The  Cathedral,  or  Basilica  Ursiana,  was  founded  by 
Archbishop  Ursus  in  a.d.  400,  but  was  almost  entirely 
rebuilt  by  Archbishop  Guiccioli  in  1734,  only  the  round 
campanile  and  the  ancient  crypt  remaining.  The  great 
door  retains  some  fragments  of  the  ancient  door  of  vine- 
wood  (whose  planks  measured  13  ft.  by  i^)  brought  from 
Constantinople.  In  the  Interior  of  the  Church  we  may 
observe  : 

Right  Transept  (Cappella  del  Sudore).  Two  magnificent  marble 
sarcophagi,  containing  the  remains  of  S.  Rinaldus,  and  of  S.  Barbatian 
the  confessor  of  Galla  Placidia. 

Sacristy.  A  curious  Paschal  Calendar  on  marble  for  a.d.  532 — 626, 
a  silver  crucifix  of  the  6th  century,  and  the  ivory  throne  of  the  Arch- 
bishop Maximian,  532—626,  covered  with  bas-reliefs  chiefly  of  the 
History  of  Joseph. 

Ambulatory  behind  the  Choir.  A  bas-relief  of  S.  Mark  by  Lombardi, 
and  two  sculptured  marble  slabs  from  an  ancient  ambo,  shown  by  the 
inscription  to  have  been  erected  by  S.  Agnellus. 

"  The  bas-reliefs  of  the  ancient  ambones,  now  incrested  into  the  wall 
behind  the  choir,  hardly  deserve  mention  as  works  of  art,  but  are  curious 
as  exhibiting  in  distinct  rows,  the  fish,  the  dove,  the  lamb,  the  stag, 
peacock,  &c.  —  'the  whole  sacred  menagerie,'  as  Mr  Hope  calls  it,  of 
Symbolism." — Lindsays  Christian  Art. 

Choir.  The  picture  of  the  Consecration  of  the  church  by  S.  Ursus  is 
by  Camttccini,  that  of  the  Death  of  S.  Peter  Chrysologus  by  Benvenuti. 

Left  Transept  (Cappella  del  Sacramento).  Guido  Reni.  The  Fall  of 
the  Manna,  with  the  Meeting  of  Abraham  and  Melchizedek  in  a  lunette 
above. 

Left  Aisle.    Tomb  of  Archbishop  Guiccioli,  who  rebuilt  the  cathedral. 

Behind  the  Cathedral  is  the  Bishofs  Palace  (Arcivesco- 
vado).     It    contains  much  of  interest,  but   especially  the 


CHAPEL  OF  THE  ARCIVESCOVADO.  321 

Chapel,  built  by  S.  Peter  Chrysologus,  439 — 450,  and  quite 
unaltered.  Its  walls  are  coated  with  great  slabs  of  marble, 
and  its  ceiling  is  covered  with  the  ancient  mosaics. 

"The  chapel  consists  of  a  dome  upon  four  circular  arches,  on  the 
soffits  of  which,  upon  a  gold  ground,  are  sets  of  seven  medallions,  with 
the  pictures  of  the  very  youthful  Christ,  of  the  Apostles,  and  several 
saints,  *  upon  a  blue  ground,  a  work  which  very  nearly  approaches  the 
thirteen  circular  pictures  in  S.  Vitale,  but  is  lighter  and  inferior  in  execu- 
tion. The  centre  of  the  gold-grounded  dome  is  occupied  by  a  large 
medallion  with  the  monogram  of  Christ,  upheld  by  four  simple  and 
graceful  angel  figures  rising  from  the  four  springings  of  the  arch.  In 
the  four  intermediate  spaces  are  the  winged  emblems  of  the  Evangelists, 
bearing  the  richly  decorated  books  of  the  Gospel.  The  Lion  of  St. 
Mark  is  remarkable  for  an  almost  human  form  of  head.  A  broad  pas- 
sage leads  into  a  space  beyond,  terminating  in  a  waggon  roof.  This  is 
decorated  with  birds  and  flowers  upon  a  gold  ground,  which  are  very 
rudely  and  sketchily  treated,  and  probably  belong  to  a  later  period, " — 
Kiigler, 

On  the  right  of  the  space  near  the  altar  is  a  full-length 
figure  of  Christ,  clothed  in  the  "  chlamyde  "  typical  of  the 
Church  Militant.  This  is  of  the  5th  century,  but  the  figure 
of  the  Virgin  and  the  two  medallions  of  saints  over  the  altar, 
were  brought  from  the  (destroyed)  Basilica  Ursiana,  and  are 
not  earlier  than  the  nth. 

In  the  ante-chamber  of  the  chapel  are  a  beautiful  Arian 
Cross  and  a  number  of  mscriptions  belonging  to  the  ancient 
cathedral.  The  Archives  contain  much  that  is  curious, 
especially  a  brief  of  Paschal  11.  (1099 — 1118),  confirming  the 
privileges  of  the  Archbishops  of  Ravenna. 

Behind  the  Arcivescovado,  at  the  entrance  of  the  Strada 
di  Classe,  is  the  Pinacoteca.  It  contains  a  small  collection, 
chiefly  by  the  native  family  of  Longhi : — 

•  Felicitas,  Perpetua,  Daria,  Eufemia,  Eugenia,  Cecilia,  Damian,  Fabian,  Sebas- 
tian, Crysantlius,  Crysogonus,  Cassianus. 

VOL.    II.  21 


322 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


Luca  Longhi.     Crucifixion. 
Id.     Virgin  and  Child  throned,  with  saints. 
Id.     The  Deposition, 

Id.     The  Nativity — an  excellent  work  of  this  master. 
Id.     Portrait  of  his  daughter  Barbara,  herself  an  artist. 
Fraiuesco  Longhi.     Nativity. 
Romanelli.     S.  Sebastian. 
Giorgio  VasarL     Tlie  Deposition. 

Cotignola  (Francesco  Marchesi  or  Zaganelli).    Virgin  and  Child,  with 
S.  J.  Baptist  and  S.  Catherine. 

In  an  ante-chamber  are  two  fine  busts — S.  ApolHnare,  by 
Thorwaldsen,  and  Cardinal  Capponi,  by  Bernini.  Other 
rooms  contain  the  Model  of  a  Dying  Horse  by  Canova  ;  the 
Graces  of  Thorwaldsen ;  the  Endymion  found  in  the  studio 
of  Canova  after  his  death,  and  given  by  Cardinal  Rivarola, 
and  his  models  for  the  tomb  of  Volpato  and  Valerio.  But 
the  gem  of  the  collection,  alone  worth  a  pilgrimage  to 
Ravenna  to  see,  is  the  exquisite  Totnb  of  Guidarello 
Guidarelli,    called    Fortebraccio    da    Ravenna,    removed 


Tomb  of  Guidarello  Guidarelli. 


hither  on  the  destruction  of  the  Fortebraccio  chapel  near  ?, 
Francesco.     It  is  by  Baldaldo  Giovenaldo  da  Ravenna.,  and 


S.  AG  ATA.  323 

is  one  of  the  most  perfect  and  beautiful  representations  of 
death  ever  given  in  sculpture.  The  young  knight  is  dressed 
in  armour,  and  lies  on  a  simple  couch,  his  head  has  fallen 
on  one  side,  the  teeth  are  locked,  and  the  long  lashes 
have  fallen  over  the  eyes. 

The  adjoining  Collegio,  once  the  Carthusian  Monastery  of 
S.  Romualdo,  encloses  the  Museum,  Public  Library,  &c. 

The  Museo  contains  a  fine  collection  of  ancient  Medals, 
remarkable  among  which  is  the  bronze  medal  struck  in 
honour  of  Cicero  by  the  town  of  Magnesia  in  Lydia. 

The  Biblioteca  Comunale  contains  a  celebrated  MS.  of 
Aristophanes  of  the  loth  century,  an  illuminated  14th-cen- 
tury MS,  of  Dante,  a  prayer-book  of  Mary  Stuart  with 
miniatures,  and  other  treasures.  Here  also  is  the  wooden 
coffin  which  contained  the  remains  of  Dante. 

In  the  former  Refectory,  is  the  masterpiece  of  the  native 
painter  Luia  Longhi — the  Marriage  of  Cana. 

The  fine  bronze  statue  of  Alexander  VII.  (Fabio  Chigi, 
1635 — 1667)  was  removed  hither  from  the  Piazza  S. 
Francesco. 

Below  the  Collegio  stands  the  closed  Church  of  S.  Niccolh, 
built  by  Archbishop  Sergius  in  768.  Outside  it,  is  one  of 
the  largest  of  the  mediaeval  sarcophagi.  The  street  oppo- 
site this  leads  to  the  dreadfully  damp — 

Church  of  S.  Agata,  of  the  5th  century,  retaining  the  20 
ancient  columns  of  granite  and  marble  which  divide  its 
nave  and  aisles.     It  contains  : — 

Hight,  Chapel  at  end  of  aisle.  Luc  a  Longhi.  SS.  Catherine,  Agata, 
and  Cecilia.  The  altar  contains  the  bodies  of  the  Archbishop  S. 
Agnellus  and  the  martyr  S.  Sergius,  and  is  decorated  with  the  mono- 
gram of  "  Sergius  Diaconus." 

Choir.  Francesco  da  Cotignola.  Crucifixion.  The  6th-century 
mosaics  of  the  Tribune  were  destroyed  by  an  earthquake  in  1688. 


324  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

End  of  the  Left  aisle.     Barbiani,     The  Madonna  with  S.  Peter. 

By  the  Strada  Girotto  a  little  above  S.  Agata,  we  turn 
(right)  to  (left)  the  Piazza  S.  Francesco. 

In  the  house  at  the  corner  of  the  square  Lord  Byron 
lived  in  1819.  TJie  Church  of  S.  Francesco  is  modernized 
except  the  (square)  Campanile,  but  was  founded  by  Bishop 
Neo  in  426,  and  dedicated  to  S.  Peter.  It  was  first  called 
S.  Francesco  in  1261.  The  choir,  and  the  bases  and  shafts 
of  the  22  marble  columns,  remain  from  the  ancient  church. 

Right  Aisle.  Cappella  dell  Crocifisso.  The  capitals  of  the  two  beau- 
tiful columns  of  Greek  marble  are  by  Pietro  Lombardo. 

4//^  Chapel.  Sacchi  da  Imola.  Madonna  throned,  with  saints  and 
donors. 

End  Chapel.  Sarcophagus  of  the  5th  century,  of  Archbishop 
Libeiius. 

Left  Aisle.  Tomb  of  Luffo  Numai,  Lord  of  Forii,  by  Tommaso  Flam- 
berti. 

Left  of  Entrance.  Monument  of  Enrico  Alfieri,  General  of  the 
Franciscans,  1405.     Of  the  same  family  as  the  poet. 

Right  of  Entrance.  Monument  of  Ostasio  de'  Polentani,  Lord  of  Ra- 
venna, dressed  as  a  Franciscan  monk,  1396.  Near  these  are  two  mag- 
nificent sarcophagi. 

Close  to  the  church  is  the  miserable  little  round  temple 
erected  over  the  Tomb  of  Dante. 

' '  Dante  a  bien  fait  de  mourir  ^  Ravenne  ;  son  tombeau  est  bien 
place  dans  cette  triste  cite,  tombeau  de  I'empire  romain  en  Occident, 
empire  qui,  ne  dans  un  marais,  est  venu  expirer  dans  les  lagunes. 

*'  Dante  vint  au  moins  deux  fois  a  Ravenne  chercher  un  refuge  sous 
les  ailes  de  I'aigle  des  Polentani,  noble  famille  a  laquelle  appartenait 
cette  jeune  femme  dont  la  touchante  infortune  est  devenue  un  portion 
de  la  gloire  du  grand  poete.  Ravenne  est  doublement  consacree  par 
le  berceau  de  Francesca  et  par  le  tombeau  de  Dante. 

"  Non  loin  de  ce  tombeau  s'eleve  un  pan  de  mur  qui  est  peut-etre  un 
teste  du  palais  des  Polentani.  Dante  vecut  ses  demieres  annees  dans 
ce  palais,  dont  il  reste  seulement  quelques  debris  incertains,  et  oil 
s'ecoul^rent  les  premiers  jours  de  Francesca.     C'est  alors,  dit-on,  qu'il 


TOMB  OF  DANTE.  325 

immortalisa  les  .malheurs  de  la  fille  des  Polentani  pour  consoler  son 
vieux  pere.  Mais  il  est  peu  vraisemblable  qu'il  ait  attendu  si  long- 
temps  pour  raconter  un  evenement  tragique  arrive  bien  des  annees  aupara- 
vant,  et  qui  se  trouve  dans  I'un  des  premiers  chants  de  sou  poeme. 

"  Le  tombeau  de  Dante  n'est  pas  de  son  temps  ;  ii  est  malheureusement 
beaucoup  plus  moderne.  Les  cendres  du  poete  ont  attendu  longtemps 
ce  tardif  hommage.  Quand  il  mourut  ici,  le  14  septembre,  1321,  age 
seulement  de  cinquante-six  ans,  une  urne  de  marbre  recueillit  ses  cendres 
proscrites.  Son  hote  Guido  della  Polenta  fut  lui-meme  chasse  de  Ra- 
venne  avant  d'avoir  pu  elever  une  tombe  a  celui  que  les  agitations  de  sa 
terre  natale  avaient  prive  d'une  patrie,  et  que  les  troubles  de  sa  terra 
d'exil  privaient  d'un  tombeau.  Ce  fut  seulement  plus  d'un  siecle  apres 
que  Bernardo  Bembo,  podestat  de  Ravenne  pour  la  republique  de 
Venise,  fit  constiuire,  par  le  calebre  architect  et  sculpteur  Lombardi,  un 
monument  qui,  malheureusement,  a  ele  restaure  en  1692  par  un  Floren- 
tin,  le  Cardinal  Domenico  Corsi,  legat  pour  la  Romagne  ;  et,  plus 
malheureusement  encore,  a  ete  entierement  reconstruit  en  1780  par  un 
autre  legat,  le  cardinal  Gonzaga  da  Mantoue.  Les  inscriptions  sont 
peu  remarquables.  Dans  celle  du  xviii^  siecle,  I'admiration  pour  Dante 
a  cru  faire  beaucoup  en  I'appellant  \e  premier  poete  de  son  temps.  L'eloge 
etait  modeste.  Le  Cardinal  Gonzaga  pensait  en  dire  assez,  et  probable- 
ment  ne  soup9onnait  pas  que  celui  auquel  il  accordait  cette  louage  re- 
lative put  etre  mis  en  comparaison  avec  les  poetes  italiens  d'un  siecle 
plus  eclaire,  tel  que  Frugoni.  II  faut  songer  que  vers  ce  temps  Betinelli 
declarait  qu'il  y  avait  tout  au  plus  cent  cinquante  bonnes  terzaines  dans 
la  Divine  Comedie.  Une  epitaphe  plus  ancienne,  en  mauvais  latin, 
et  qui  a  ete  attribuee  a  Dante,  ne  me  parait  pas  pouvoir  etre  de  lui ;  les 
vers  sont  trop  barbares.  Les  deux  derniers  sont  encore,  au  moins  pour 
le  sentiment,  ce  qu'il  y  a  de  mieux  dans  ce  lieu  funebre  : 

Hie  claudor  Danthes,  patriis  extorris  ab  oris, 
Quera  genuit  parvi  Florentia  mater  amoris. 

"  lis  respirent  une  melancolie  amere  que  Dante  n'eut  point  desavouee  ; 
mais  les  quatre  premiers  sont  detestables,  et  je  ne  puis  me  resoudre  a 
Ten  accuser, 

"  Le  monument,  dans  son  etat  actuel,  porte  I'empreinte  funeste  du  siecle 
dans  lequel  il  a  ete  reconstruit,  comme  tout  ce  que  les  arts  produisaient 
alors.  Cependant  quand  j 'arrival  par  la  rue  de  Dante  {strada  di  Dante) 
en  presence  de  la  mesquine  coupole,  quand  le  serviteur  de  la  commune 
vint  ouvrir  la  grille  du  mausolee,  quand  je  fus  en  presence  de  la  tombe 
ou  repose  depuis  cinq  siecles  cet  homme  dont  la  vie  fut  si  tourmentee, 
dont  la  memoire  est  si  grande,  je  ne  vis  plus  les  defauts  de  I'edifice,  je 


326  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

ne  vis  que  la  poussiere  illustre  qui  I'habite,  et  mon  ame  fut  absorbee 
tout  entiere  par  un  sentiment  oil  se  confondaient  I'emotion  qu'on  eprouve 
en  contemplant  le  cercueil  d'un  ami  malheureux,  et  rattendrissement 
qu'inspire  I'autel  sanctifie  par  les  reliques  d'un  martyr." — Ampere. 

"The  story  of  Dante's  burial,  and  of  the  discovery  of  his  real  tomb, 
is  fresh  in  the  memory  of  every  one.  But  the  '  little  cupola,  more  neat 
than  solemn, '  of  which  Lord  Byron  speaks,  will  continue  to  be  the  goal 
of  many  a  pilgrimage.  For  myself— though  I  remember  Chateau- 
briand's bare-headed  genuflexion  on  its  threshold,  Alfieri's  passionate 
prostration  at  the  altar-tomb,  and  Byron's  offering  of  poems  on  the  poet's 
shrine — I  confess  that  a  single  canto  of  the  Inferno,  a  single  passage 
of  the  Vita  Nuova,  seems  more  full  of  soul-stirring  associations  than  the 
place  where,  centuries  ago,  the  mighty  dust  was  laid.  It  is  the  spirit 
that  lives  and  makes  alive.  And  Dante's  spirit  seems  more  present  with 
us  under  the  pine-branches  of  the  Bosco  than  beside  his  real  or  fancied 
tomb.  'He  is  risen,' — 'Behold,  I  am  with  you  always' — these  are 
words  that  ought  to  haunt  us  in  a  burying-ground.  There  is  something 
affected  and  self-conscious  in  overpowering  grief  or  enthusiasm  or 
humiliation  at  a  tomb." — J.  A.  Symonds. 

"  Ungrateful  Florence  !  Dante  sleeps  afar, 

Like  Scipio,  buried  by  the  upbraiding  shore  ; 

Thy  factions,  in  their  worse  than  civil  war. 

Proscribed  the  bard  whose  name  for  evermore 

Their  children's  children  would  in  vain  adore 

With  the  remorse  of  ages  ;  and  the  crown 

Which  Petrarch's  laureate  brow  supremely  wore, 

Upon  a  far  and  foreign  soil  had  grown, 
His  life,  his  fame,  his  grave,  though  rifled — not  thine  own. " 

Byt'on,  Childe  Harold. 

When  Pope  Pius  IX.  was  here  in  1857,  he  wrote  in  the 
visitor's  book,  from  Purgatorio  xi.  100 — 

"Non  e  il  mondan  rumore  altro  che  un  fiato 
Di  vento  ch'or  vien  quinci  ed  or  vien  quindi, 
E  muta  nome,  perche  muta  lato. " 

"  Cast  k  Ravenne  que  Dante  publia  son  poeme  tout  entier.  Deux 
milles  copies  en  furent  faites  a  la  plume,  et  envoyees  par  toute  I'ltalie. 
On  douta  qu'un  homme  vivant  encore  eut  pu  ecrire  de  telles  choses,  et 
plus  d'une  fois  il  arriva,  lorsque  Dante  se  promenait  lent  et  severe,  dans 
les  rues  de  Ravenne  et  de  Rimini,  avec  sa  longue  robe  rouge  et  sa 
couronne  de  laurier  sur  sa  tete,  que  la  mere,  saintement  effrayee,  le 


5.  APOLLLVARE  NUOVO. 


327 


montra  du  doigt  k  son  enfant,  en  lui  disant  :    '  Vois-tu  cet  homme,  il 
est  descendu  dans  I'enfer  ! ' " — Dumas. 

The  Strada  Girotto  leads  into  the  Corso  Garibaldi,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  which  is  the  grand  Basilica  of  S.  Apollinare 
Nuovo,  built  by  Theodoric  in  500,  as  the  Arian  Cathedral, 
under  the  name  of  '  S.  Martino  in  Ccelo  Aureo.'  When  the 
Gothic  kingdom  fell,  it  was  consecrated  for  Catholic  worship 
by  the  Archbishop  S.  Agnellus.  In  the  9th  century,  when 
the  relics  of  S.  ApoUinaris  were  transferred  hither,  it  was 
called  by  his  name.  The  24  cippollino  columns  were  brought 
from  Constantinople,  and  have  Byzantine  capitals.  The  roof 
is  of  wood.  In  the  nave  is  the  ancient  pulpit,  covered  with 
curious  sculpture.     The  last  chapel  on  the  left,  which  has 


In  S.  Apollinare  Nuovo,  Ravenna. 

an  exquisitely  wrought   marble  screen,   sustained   by  four 
porphyry  pillars,   contains  the   sarcophagus  which  encloses 


328  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

the  relics  of  S.  ApoUinaris,  a  bishop's  throne  of  the  loth 
century,  and  a  mosaic  portrait  of  the  Emperor  Justinian, 
which  once,  with  that  of  S.  Agnellus,  stood  over  the  entrance 
of  the  church.  The  mosaics  of  the  nave  are,  as  a  whole, 
more  impressive  than  any  other  mosaics  in  the  world. 

"These  mosaics,  executed  chiefly  between  the  years  553  and  566  are 
perfectly  unique  in  their  way,  though  the  principal  portions,  apsis  and 
arch  of  triumph,  have  been  restored.  But  the  upper  walls  of  the  central 
aisle  are  still  sparkling,  from  the  arches  up  the  roof,  with  their  original 
and  very  rich  mosaic  decorations.  Two  prodigious  friezes,  next  above 
the  arches,  contain  long  processions  upon  a  gold  ground,  which,  be 
longing  as  they  do  to  the  very  last  days  of  ancient  art,  remind  us  curi- 
ously of  that  Panathenaic  procession  upon  the  Parthenon  at  Athenf. 
On  the  right  are  the  martyrs  and  the  confessors  ;  they  are  advancing 
solemnly  out  of  the  city  of  Ravenna,  which  is  here  signified  by  a  mag- 
nificent representation  of  the  palace  of  the  Ostrogothic  kings,  with  its 
upper  and  lower  arcade  and  comer  towers  and  domes.  Through  the 
entrance-gate  a  gold  ground  shines  forth,  as  symbol  of  dominion.  On 
the  walls  are  the  female  forms  of  Victory  in  gay  garments  ;  and  white 
hangings,  richly  decorated  with  flowers  and  fringes,  omament  the  lower 
arcade.  The  procession  is  advancing  in  slow  but  well-expressed  move- 
ment through  an  avenue  of  palm-trees,  which  divide  the  single  figures. 
All  are  clad  in  light-coloured  garments,  with  crowns  in  their  hands. 
Their  countenances  are  all  greatly  similar,  and  are  reduced  to  a  few 
spirited  lines,  though  still  tolerably  true  to  nature.  The  execution  is 
careful,  as  is  also  the  gradation  of  the  tints.  At  the  end  of  the  proces- 
sion, and  as  the  goal  of  it,  appears  Christ  upon  a  throne,  the  four  arch- 
angels around  him — noble,  solemn  figures,  in  no  respect  inferior  either 
in  style  or  execution  to  those  in  the  apsis  of  S.  Vitale.  On  the  left  side 
of  the  church  (that  which  was  occupied  by  the  women)  we  perceive  a 
similarly  arranged  procession  of  female  martyrs  and  confessors  advancing 
from  the  suburb  of  Classis,  recognized  by  its  harbours  and  fortifications. 
At  the  head  of  the  procession  is  the  Adoration  of  the  Three  Kings. 
Upon  a  throne,  surmounted  by  four  beautiful  angels,  appears  the  Ma- 
donna,— here  perhaps  first  represented  as  an  object  of  reverence.  She 
is  depicted  as  a  matron  of  middle  age,  with  her  right  hand  raised  in  the 
act  of  benediction  ;  a  veil  upon  her  head,  which  is  encircled  by  the 
nimbus.  Upon  her  lap  is  seated  the  already  well-grown  and  fully- 
clothed  child,  also  in  act  of  benediction.  Of  the  subject  of  the  Three 
Kings  the  greater  part  has  been  restored,  but  a  spiritedly  expressed  and 


S.  APOLLINARE  NUOVO. 


329 


active  action  is  still  discernible,  as  well  as  the  splendid  barbaric  costume, 
with  its  richly  bordered  doublet,  short  silken  mantle,  and  nether  gar- 
ments of  tiger-skin.  Here,  as  in  the  opposite  frieze,  the  last  portion  of 
the  subject  is  best  treated.  Further  up,  between  the  windows,  are 
single  figures  of  the  apostles  and  saints  standing  in  niches,  with  birds 
and  vases  between  them.  The  dark  and  heavy  shadowing  of  their  white 
garments,  and  the  stiff  and  unrefined  conception  of  the  whole,  certainly 
indicate  a  somewhat  later  period,  probably  the  seventh  century.  Quite 
above,  and  over  the  windows,  on  a  very  small  scale,  and  now  scarcely 
distinguishable,  are  the  Miracles  of  our  Lord." — Kugler. 

"  On  the  right  hand  as  we  enter,  and  immediately  above  the  arches  of 
the  nave,  we  behold  a  long  procession  of  twenty-one  martyrs,  carrying 
their  crowns  in  their  hands  ;  they  appear  advancing  towards  a  figure  of 
our  Saviour,  who  stands  with  an  angel  on  each  side,  ready  to  receive 
them.  On  the  wall  10  the  left  is  a  like  procession  of  virgin  martyrs, 
also  bearing  their  crowns,  and  advancing  to  a  figure  of  the  throned 
Madonna,  who,  with  an  angel  on  each  side,  appears  to  be  seated  there 
to  receive  their  homage.  These  processions  extend  to  the  entrance  of 
the  choir,  and  the  figures  are  colossal, — I  suppose  about  seven  or  eight 
feet  high — they  are  arranged  in  the  following  order  :  — 


Clement 

S.  Eupheraia 

S.  Ursinus 

S.  Eulalia 

Justinus 

Paulina 

Apollinaris 

Agnes 

Laurence 

Daria 

Sebastian 

Agatha 

Hippolytus 

Anastasia 

Demetrius 

Pelagia 

Cyprian 

Justina 

Polycarp 

Sabina 

Cornelius 

Perpetua 

Vincent 

Christina 

Cassian 

Felicitas 

Pancratius 

Eugenia 

John  and 

Vincentia 

Chrysogonus 

Anatolia 

Paul 

Valeria 

Sabinus 

Victoria 

Vitalis 

Crispina 

Gervasius  & 

Lucia 

Protasius 

Cecilia 

"This  list  of  martyrs  is  of  very  great  importance,  as  being,  I  believe, 
the  earliest  in  the  history  of  Art.  It  shows  us  what  martyrs  were  most 
honoured  in  the  sixth  century.  It  shows  us  that  many  names,  then  held 
most  in  honour,  have  since  fallen  into  comparative  neglect  ;  and  that 
others,  then  unknown  or  unacknowledged,  have  since  become  most 
celebrated.  It  will  be  remarked,  that  the  virgins  are  led  by  S. 
Euphemia,  and  not  by  S.  Catherine  :  that  there  is  no  S.  Barbara,  no  S. 
Margaret,  no  S.  George,  no  S.  Christopher ;  all  of  whom  figure  con- 
spicuously in  the  mosaics  of  Monreale  at  Palermo,  executed  five  cen- 


330 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


tunes  later.  In  fact,  of  these  forty-two  figures  executed  at  Ravenna  by 
Greek  artists  in  the  service  of  Justinian,  only  five — Euphemia,  Cj-prian 
and  Justina,  Polycarp  and  Demetrius — are  properly  Greek  saints  ;  all 
the  rest  are  Latin  saints,  whose  worship  originated  with  the  Western  and 
not  with  the  Eastern  Church." — yamesons  Sacred  Art,  ii.  527. 

Close  to  S.  ApoUinare,  between  it  and  the  Strada  di  Porta 
Alberoni,  is  the  fragment  called  the  Palace  of  Theodoric,  the 
only  remnant  of  the  famous  palace  of  the  Gothic  kings, 
which  was  after^vards  inhabited  by  the  Exarchs  and  the 
Lx)mbard  sovereigns.  It  is  a  high  wall  adorned  with  arches 
and  columns.  Against  the  lower  story  stands  a  sarcophagus, 
which  an  inscription,  of  1564,  states  to  have  once  contained 
the  ashes  of  Theodoric,  and  to  have  stood  on  the  top  of  his 
mausoleum.  This  is,  however,  very  uncertain.  The  palace 
was  ruined  by  Charlemagne,'  who,  with  the  permission  of 
Pope  Adrian  I.,  carried  off"  its  mosaics  and  other  treasures  for 


Palace  of  Theodoric. 


the  decoration  of  his  palace  at  Ingelheira  and  his  church  at 
Aix  la  Chapelle. 


PALACE  OF  THEODORIC.  331 

"The  fragment  which  remains  enables  us  to  judge  of  the  style  of  the 
palace,  and  it  is  impossible  not  to  believe  that  the  architect  who  built  it, 
had  the  palace  of  Diocletian  at  Spalatro  in  his  view,  so  great  is  the 
resemblance  between  the  fragment  that  remains  and  the  Porta  Aurea  of 
that  building.  But  it  was  the  first  time  that  small  pillars,  supported  by 
brackets,  had  been  used  in  Italy  as  external  decoi-ations  ;  and  the  first 
time  that  small  pillars  had  been  introduced  as  divisions  of  windows. 
The  great  change,  however,  is  in  the  doorway — which,  in  classical 
buildings,  had  always  been  square-headed — and  which,  in  this  building, 
is  round." — H.  Gaily  Knight. 

To  the  history-lover  this  wall  will  have  a  special  interest 
as  part  of  the  palace  where  the  great  Ostrogoth  lived,  where 
"  he  used  to  amuse  himself  by  cultivating  an  orchard  with 
his  own  hands,"  and  where  he  died  in  a.d.  482. 

The  barbarian  (Herulian)  Odoacer  was  ruling  the  Empire  of  the  West, 
when  Theodoric  king  of  the  Ostrogoths  entered  Italy,  his  invasion  being 
the  migration  of  a  people,  not  the  inroad  of  an  army.  After  two  great 
battles  and  a  three  years'  siege  in  Ravenna,  Odoacer  agreed  to  a  joint 
sovereignty,  but  was  soon  after  murdered  at  a  banquet.  Then  Theodoric 
"commenced  a  reign  of  thirty-three  years,  in  which  Italy  reposed  in 
peace  under  his  just  and  vigorous  and  parental  administration." 

The  serene  impartiality  of  Theodoric's  government  in  religious  affairs 
extorts  the  praise  of  the  most  zealous  Catholic.  Himself  an  Arian,  he 
attempted  nothing  against  the  Catholic  faith.  He  kept  aloof  from 
religious  dissensions,  devoting  himself  to  maintaining  the  peace,  securing 
the  welfare,  promoting  the  civilization,  and  lightening  the  financial 
burthens  of  his  people.  But  in  the  last  year  of  his  reign  the  bigotry  of 
his  Catholic  subjects  (chiefly  shown  in  their  persecution  of  the  Jews) 
"drove  the  most  tolerant  of  princes  to  the  brink  of  persecution."  He 
was  persuaded  to  listen  to  accusations  of  treason  against  the  philosopher 
Boethius,  whom  he  caused  to  be  imprisoned  at  Pavia,  and  eventually 
murdered  in  his  cell.  The  execution  of  Boethius  was  followed  by  that 
of  his  father-in-law,  the  venerable  Symmachus,  head  of  the  Senate, 
whose  only  crime  was  his  grief  for  the  death  of  his  friend.  "After  a 
life  of  virtue  and  glory,  Theodoric  descended  with  shame  and  guilt  to 
the  grave."  One  evening,  it  is  related,  when  the  head  of  a  large  fish  was 
served  on  the  royal  table,  he  suddenly  exclaimed  that  he  beheld  the 
angry  countenance  of  Symmachus,  his  eyes  glaring  fury  and  revenge 
and  menacing  his  murderer.     He  retired  to  his  chamber,  expressed  to 


332 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


his  physician  his  contrition  for  his  crimes,  and  died  three  days  after  in 
the  palace  at  Ravenna,  bequeathing  Italy  to  Athalaric  and  Spain  to 
Amalaric — his  two  grandsons,  children  of  his  daughter  Amalasontha. 

A  little  further  down  the  Corso  Garibaldi  is  the  Church 
of  S.  Maria  in  Porto,  still  much  frequented,  and  formerly 
celebrated  on  account  of  a  miracle-working  image  of 
the  Virgin  (praying)  transferred  hither  from  S.  Maria 
in  Porto  Fuori  in  the  i6th  century.  The  church  was 
built  in  1553  from  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Basilica  of  S. 
Lorenzo  in  Cesarea,     It  contains  : — 

Right,  ^h  Chapel.     Palma  Giovane.     Martyrdom  of  S.  Mark. 
Left,  ^th  Chapel.     Luca  Longhi.     The  Virgin  with  Saints. 
Sacristy.     A  beautifully  wrought  sepulchral  urn  of  porphyry. 


About  two  miles  beyond  the  gate  called  Porta  Alberoni 
(built   1793,  in  honour  of  Clement  XII.,  as  an  approach 


S.  Maria  in  Porto  Fuori. 


to  the  Port  of  Ravenna)  is  the  desolate  Church  of  S.  Maria 
in  Porto  Fuori,  built  at  the  end  of  the  nth  century, 


S.  MARIA  IN  PORTO  FUORI.  333 

consequence  of  a  vow  made  at  sea  by  one  Pietro  Onesti, 
called  //  Peccatore.  The  name  in  Porto  is  derived  from  the 
belief  that  the  huge  basement  of  the  four-sided  (here  un- 
usual !)  campanile  is  that  of  the  ancient  Pharos,,  or  lighthouse 
of  the  Port.  The  original  pavement  is  now  far  below  the 
surface,  but  Time  has  buried  all  the  ancient  buildings  in  Ra- 
venna as  in  Rome.  Many  of  the  Princesses  of  the  Polentani 
family  were  interred  here  in  mediaeval  times.  The  interior 
contains  : — 

Left- Aisle.     A  sarcophagus  in  which  the  body  of  the  founder  was  laid 
in  1 1 19. 

Choir.     This  and  several  other  portions  of  the  church  are  covered 
with  frescoes  attributed  to  Giotto. 

"According  to  tradition,  the  whole  church  was  painted  by  Giotto, 
but  time  and  white-wash  have  been  busily  at  work,  and  the  frescoes  of  the 
presbytery  and  of  the  Chapel  of  S.  Matthew  at  the  extremity  of  the 
southern  nave,  are  the  only  ones  that  repay  a  minute  examination.  In  the 
former  series,  the  history  of  the  Virgin  is  abridged  into  six  compartments, 
of  which  the  Massacre  of  the  Innocents,*  and  her  own  Death  are  the  most 
remarkable,  the  former  for  much  invention  and  merit  in  the  composition, 
the  latter  for  the  characteristic  attitudes  of  the  Apostles  and  the  beauty 
of  the  Virgin's  face,  and  for  the  singularity,  that  the  Saviour  receiving 
his  mother's  soul  in  his  arms  is  represented  with  the  youthful  face  of  the 
Catacombs  and  the  ancient  mosaics.  Other  Byzantine  reminiscences 
also  occur  here.  The  Massacre  is  broken  by  a  pointed-arched  niche, 
within  which  our  Saviour  is  represented  administering  the  Eucharist, 
presenting  the  wafer  to  S.  Peter  with  his  right  hand,  and  the  cup  to  S. 
Paul  with  the  left,  a  composition  strongly  resembling  that  on  the  'Dal- 
matica  di  S.  Leone,'  and  a  Martyrdom,  in  a  chapel  at  the  extremity  of 
the  northern  nave,  is  completely  the  traditional  composition  of  the 
Menologion.  But  the  frescoes  in  the  Chapel  of  S.  Matthew, f  though 
much  injured,  are  the  most  interesting.  The  first  represents  his  call  to 
the  apostolaie, — he  is  seated,  a  young  man  of  pleasing  countenance,  and 
wearing  the  same  red  falling  cap  worn  by  Dante  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Bargello  ;  he  appears  about  to  rise  up  and  follow  our  Saviour — an 
admirable  figure,  full  of  dignity,  who  turns  away,  signing  to  him  most 

*  Herod's  daughter,  introduced  in  this  fresco,  is  shown asa  portrait  of  Francesca  da 
Rimini. 
t  Shown  as  the  Chapel  of  S.  John  the  Evangelist. 


334,  ITALIAN-  CITIES 

expressively.  In  the  second  compartment,  he  is  seen  healing  a  multitude 
of  sick  and  infirm  people  at  the  capital  of  Ethiopia,  where,  according  to 
the  legend,  he  preached  the  gospel  after  the  dispersion  of  the  Apostles  ; 
the  attitudes  and  expression  of  the  decrepit  band  are  excellent.  In  the 
third,  almost  destroyed,  a  large  dragon  is  still  visible,  crouching  before 
him, — two  magicians,  we  are  told,  then  tyrannized  over  the  country, 
and  came  to  interrupt  his  preaching,  each  accompanied  by  his  dragon, 
spitting  fire  from  its  mouth  and  nostrils  ;  S.  Matthew  went  forth  to  meet 
them,  and  making  the  sign  of  the  cross,  the  monsters  sank  into  slumber 
at  his  feet.  Of  the  remaining  compartments,  the  best  preserved  is  the 
sixth,  representing  the  baptism  of  the  young  King  and  Queen,  the  crown 
of  his  ministry  ;  both  are  in  white,  the  King  in  front,  the  Queen,  with 
braided  hair  and  her  hands  meekly  crossed,  behind  him.  The  two  last 
compartments,  the  seventh  and  eighth,  probably  represented  the 
Apostle's  martyrdom  thirty-five  years  afterw^ards,  during  which  interval 
he  had  acted  as  bishop  of  the  Church  of  Ethiopia  ;  the  lower  compart- 
ment is  quite  effaced,—  in  the  lunette  above  it,  angels  are  seen  wafting 
the  soul  to  heaven." — Lindsay'' s  Christian  Art. 

The  whole  discovery  and  uncovering  of  the  frescoes  is  due 
to  the  personal  diligence  of  the  poor  priest  attached  (1875) 
to  the  church.  If  the  notion  of  making  this  the  Campo 
Santo  of  Ravenna  is  carried  out,  we  may  hope  that  much 
more  will  be  disclosed. 


Half  a  mile  (right)  from  the  Porta  Serrata  (the  gate  at  the 
end  of  the  Corso  Garibaldi  beyond  S.  Spirit©),  is  the  Tomb 
of  J7ieodoric,' Qxtcitd  in  his  life-time.  After  the  fall  of  the 
Gothic  kingdom,  when  the  ashes  of  Theodoric  were  dis- 
persed, the  building  itself  was  preserved  from  destruction 
by  being  consecrated  for  Catholic  worship  under  the  name 
of  S.  Maria  della  Rotonda.  The  dome  was  surmounted  by 
a  porphyry  vase  as  late  as  1509,  when  it  was  thrown  down 
during  the  siege  of  Ravenna  by  the  papal  army  under  Fran- 
cesco Maria  della  Rovere. 

"  A  quelque  distance  de  Ravenne,  au  milieu  d'une  plaine  immense, 


TOMB  OF  THEODORIC. 


335 


entrecoupee  9k  et  la  de  niines,  de  marecages,  et  dont  I'aspect  severe,  la 
nudite  morne  rappellent  les  solitudes  grandioses  de  la  campagne  romaine, 
on  voit  s'elever  de  loin  le  tombeau  de  Theodoric,  que  ce  Barbare  de 
genie  fit  construire  de  son  vivant.  Tout  depouille  qu'il  soit  des  orne- 
ments  qui  le  d^coraient,  cet  edifice,  bati  de  blocs  de  marbre  et  de  pierres 
carrees,  frappe  encore  par  sa  masse  imposante,  et  peut  etre  regarde 
comme  I'un  des  plus  curieux  monuments  de  I'architecture  du  siecle.  Sa 
forme  circulaire,  la  disposition  des  fendtres  qui  en  eclairent  I'interieur, 
le  deme  solide  recouvrant  la  voute,  I'enorme  coupole  dont  il  est 
couronne,  tout  donne  a  ce  mausolee  un  cachet  essentiellement  original, 
rappellant  le  caractere  demi-byzantin,  demi-barbare,  qui  distinguait  le 
roi  des  Goths.  Mais  ce  qui  imprime  k  ce  tombeau  quelque  chose  le 
plus  saisissant  encore,  c'est  que  le  sarcophage  renfermant  le  corps  de 
Theodoric  a  ete  enleve,  et  depuis  tant  de  siecles  qu'une  persecution 
intolerante  a  fait  jeter  au  vent  les  cendres  de  ce  prince,  parce  qu'il  etait 
arien,  le  sepulchre  est  demeure  vide  des  restes  du  puissant  souverain 
qui  avait  voulu  s'y  assurer  un  repos  etemel.  Tel  qu'il  est  aujour- 
d'hui,  I'aspect  de  I'edifice,  transforme  en  une  chapelle  tout  a  fait  nue  et 
abandonnee,  inspire  une  tristesse  profonde.  Les  bases  massives  de  ses 
piliers  baignent  dans  la  fange  I'un  marecage.  Ses  portes  sont  verdies 
par  I'humidite  ;  la  coupole  qui  le  surmonte  a  ete  fendue  par  la  foudre, 
et  dans  la  crypte,  pleine  d'une  eau  moisie,  s'agitent  des  animaux 
immondes. " — Dantier,  ' '  Vltalk. " 


Tomb  of  Theodoric. 


"  I  know  few  monuments  so  interesting  as  the  Tomb  of  Theodoric, 
and  it  is  highly  picturesque  externally.     The  body  of  the  stmcture  is 


336  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

round,  and  elevated  high  in  the  air  on  a  decagonal  basement  supported  by 
circular  arches,  now  filled  nearly  to  the  suffit  with  water  ;  the  interior 
is  lighted  by  ten  small  loop-holes  only  ;  the  sarcophagus  is  gone  ;  the 
roof  is  of  one  solid  stone,  or  rather  rock,  hollowed  into  the  shape  of  a 
cupola,  and  dropped  as  it  were  from  heaven — three  feet  thick,  more 
than  thirty  in  diameter,  and  weighing  two  hundred  tons — the  broad 
loops  or  rings,  by  which  it  was  lowered,  jutting  out,  externally,  like 
ragged  battlements,  having  never  been  smoothed  away.  The  whole 
building,  though  not  large,  has  a  nigged,  craggy,  eternal  character 
about  it, — weeds  tuft  themselves  among  the  masonry,  and  the  breeze 
dallies  with  them  as  on  the  mountain-side,  and  the  scene  is  nearly  as 
lonely.  This  monument,  although  unquestionably  of  Roman  masonry, 
is  the  sole  relic  of  what  alone  can  pretend  to  the  title  of  Gothic  archi- 
tecture— and  most  eminently  characteristic  it  is  of  the  indomitable  race 
of  the  north  ;  one  would  think  they  feared  that  neither  Alaric  nor 
Theodoric  could  be  held  down  in  their  gi-aves  except  by  a  river  rolling 
over  the  one,  and  a  mountain  covering  the  other." — Lindsay's  Christian 
Art. 

"  T*he  dome  is  36  ft.  in  diameter,  and  consists  of  a  single  stone.  This 
stone  was  brought  from  the  quarries  of  Istria.  It  is  excavated  within, 
and  worked  to  the  proper  convexity  without  ;  but  how  so  enormous  a 
mass  was  raised  to  its  present  position,  it  is  difficult  to  conjecture.  The 
achievement  would  seem  to  be  beyond  the  scope  of  mechanical  power ; 
and  we  are  left  to  the  supposition  that  an  inclined  plane  was  employed, 
rising  from  the  ground  at  some  distance  from  the  building,  and  ter- 
minating at  the  level  of  the  walls.  The  singular  handles,  car\'ed  in  the 
outer  circumference,  are  believed  to  have  assisted  in  moving  the 
stone. 

"  From  an  examination  of  the  upper  story  of  the  mausoleum,  it  appears 
that  it  was  once  encircled  by  a  decagonal  arcade  ;  upon  which,  probably, 
stood  the  statues  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  which  Louis  XII.  carried  off 
into  France.  The  construction  of  the  arch  of  the  original  entrance  is 
peculiar.  The  stones  are  dove-tailed  into  each  other,  in  a  manner  which 
was,  afterwards,  much  employed  by  the  architects  of  the  Middle  Ages." 
— H.  Gaily  Kjiight. 

"  The  spirit  of  Theodoric,  after  some  previous  expiation,  might  have 
been  permitted  to  mingle  with  the  benefactors  of  mankind,  if  an  Italian 
hermit  had  not  been  witness  in  a  vision  to  his  damnation,  when  his  soul 
was  plunged,  by  the  ministers  of  divine  vengeance,  into  the  volcano 
of  Lipari,  one  of  the  flaming  mouths  of  the  infernal  world." — 
Gibbon. 


A 


S.  APOLLINARE  IN  CLASSE.  337 

'^  About  3  miles  beyond  the  Porta  Nuova,  at  the  other  end 
of  the  Corso  Garibaldi,  is  the  wonderful  Basilica  of  S. 
Apollinare  in  Classe. 

"There  is  little  enough  in  the  country  to  delight  the  eye.  The  fields 
in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  city  are  cultivated  and  not  devoid 
of  trees.  But  the  cheerfulness  thence  arising  does  not  last  long.  Very 
soon  the  trees  cease,  and  there  are  no  more  hedge-rows.  Large  flat 
fields,  imperfectly  covered  with  coarse  rank  grass,  and  divided  by  the 
numerous  branches  of  streams,  all  more  or  less  dyked  to  save  the  land 
from  complete  inundation,  succeed.  The  road  is  a  causeway  raised 
above  the  level  of  the  surrounding  district ;  and  presently  a  huge  lofty 
bank  is  seen  traversing  the  desolate  scene  for  miles,  and  stretching  away 
towards  the  shore  of  the  neighbouring  Adriatic.  This  is  the  dyke  which 
contains  the  sulkily  torpid  but  yet  dangerous  Montone. 

"  Gradually,  as  the  traveller  proceeds,  the  scene  grows  worse  and 
worse.  Soon  the  only  kind  of  cultivation  to  be  seen  from  the  road 
consists  of  rice-grounds,  looking  like — what  in  truth  they  are — poisonous 
swamps.  Then  come  swamps  pure  and  simple,  too  bad  perhaps  to  be 
turned  into  rice-grounds, — or  rather  simply  swamps  impure  ;  for  a  stench 
at  most  times  of  the  year  comes  from  them,  like  a  warning  of  their 
pestilential  nature,  and  their  unfitness  for  the  sojourn  of  man.  A  few 
shaggy,  wild-looking  cattle  may  be  seen  wandering  over  the  flat  waste, 
muddy  to  the  shoulders  from  wading  in  the  soft  swamps.  A  scene  of 
more  utter  desolation  it  is  hardly  possible  to  meet  with  in  such  close 
neighbourhood  to  a  living  city. 

"The  raised  causeway,  however,  keeps  on  its  course  amid  the  low- 
lying  marshes  on  either  side  of  it ;  and  presently  the  peculiar  form  of 
outline  belonging  to  a  forest  composed  entirely  of  the  mountain-pine  is 
distinguishable  on  the  horizon  to  the  left.  The  road  quickly  draws 
nearer  to  it ;  and  the  large  heavy,  velvet-like  masses  of  dark  verdure 
become  visible.  In  a  forest  such  as  the  famous  Pineta,  the  lines, 
especially  when  seen  at  a  distance,  have  more  of  horizontal  and  less  of 
perpendicular  direction  than  in  any  other  assemblage  of  trees.  And  the 
eff"ect  produced  by  the  continuity  of  spreading  umbrella-like  tops  is 
peculiar. 

"Then,  soon  after  the  forest  has  become  visible,  the  road  brings  the 
wayfarer  within  sight  of  a  vast  lonely  structure,  bearing  its  huge  long 
back  against  the  low  horizon,  like  some  monster  antediluvian  saurian, 
the  fit  denizen  of  this  marsh  world.  It  is  the  venerable  Basilica  of  S. 
Apollinare  in  Classe." — T.  Adolphus  Trollope. 
VOL.    II.  22 


338  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  Cross,  which  we  pass  about  yi  mile  from  the  city,  sur- 
mounting a  httle  marble  column,  and  called  La  Crocetta, 
marks  the  site  of  the  great  Basilica  of  S.  Lorenzo  in  Cesarea, 
built  A.D.  396,  by  Lauritius,  Chamberlain  of  the  Emperor 
Honorius,  and  destroyed  by  the  barbarism  of  1553.  This 
church  was  the  last  reUc  of  the  ancient  city  of  Cesarea, 
though  the  whole  soil  is  full  of  marbles,  and  scarcely  a  sod 
is  turned  up  without  what  in  other  places  would  be  con- 
sidered a  precious  fragment  being  discovered. 

•  The  grand  Basilica  of  S.  Apollinare  was  begun  in  534  by 
"  Julianus  Argentarius,"  and  consecrated  in  549  by  Arch- 
bishop Maximianus.  It  is  supposed  to  occupy  the  site  of  a 
temple  of  Apollo,  and  to  have  been  built  on  the  spot  where 
S.  ApoUinaris  suffered  martyrdom  455  years  before. 

"It  is  related  of  ApoUinaris  that  he  accompanied  the  Apostle  Peter 
from  Antioch,  and  was  for  some  time  his  companion  and  assistant  at 
Rome ;  but,  after  a  while,  S.  Peter  sent  him  to  preach  the  Gospel  on 
the  eastern  coast  of  Italy,  having  first  laid  his  hands  on  him  and  com- 
municated to  him  those  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  were  vouchsafed 
to  the  apostles. 

"  ApoUinaris,  therefore,  came  to  the  city  of  Ravenna,  where  he  preach- 
ed the  faith  of  Christ  with  so  much  success  that  he  collected  around  him 
a  large  congregation,  and  performed  miracles,  silencing,  wherever  he 
came,  the  voice  of  the  false  oracles,  and  overcoming  the  demons  ;  but  the 
heathens,  being  filled  with  rage,  threw  him  into  prison,  whence  escaping 
by  the  favour  of  his  jailer,  he  fled  from  the  city  (July  23,  79)  by  the 
gate  which  leads  to  Rimini.  His  enemies  pursued  him,  and  having 
overtaken  him  about  three  miles  from  the  gate,  they  fell  upon  him  and 
beat  him,  and  pierced  him  with  many  wounds,  so  that  when  his  dis- 
ciples found  him  soon  afterwards  he  died  in  their  arms,  and  his  spirit 
fled  to  heaven." — Jameson^ s  Sacred  Art. 

The  vast  church  rises,  like  S.  Paolo  fuori  le  Mura,  in  the 
solemn  silence  of  the  Campagna,  and  its  utter  desolation 
gives  it  an  indescribable  interest,  which  is  enhanced  by  its 


i 


S.  APOLLINARE  IN  CLASSE. 


339 


ancient  associations,  combined  with  the  truth  conveyed  in 
its  own  inscription — "  Sanguis  martyris  semen  fidei." 


S.  ApolUnare  in  Classe. 

"Between  the  Bosco,  as  the  people  of  Ravenna  call  the  pine-wood, 
and  the  city,  the  marsh  stretches  for  a  distance  of  about  three  miles.  It 
is  a  plain  intersected  by  dykes  and  ditches,  and  mapped  out  into  innu- 
merable rice-fields.  For  more  than  half  a  year  it  lies  under  water,  and 
during  the  other  months  exhales  a  pestilential  vapour,  which  renders  it 
as  uninhabitable  as  the  Roman  Campagna  ;  yet  in  spring-time  this  dreary 
flat  is  even  beautiful.  The  young  blades  of  the  rice  shoot  up  above  the 
water,  delicately  green  and  tender.  The  ditches  are  lined  with  flower- 
ing rush  and  golden  flags,  while  white  and  yellow  lilies  sleep  in  myriads 
upon  the  silent  pools.  Tamarisks  wave  their  pink  and  silver  tresses  by 
the  road,  and  wherever  a  plot  of  mossy  earth  emerges  from  the  marsh, 
it  gleams  with  purple  orchises  and  flaming  marigolds ;  but  the  soil 
beneath  is  so  treacherous  and  spongy, 'that  these  splendid  blossoms  grow 
like  flowers  in  dreams  or  fairy-stories.  You  try  in  vain  to  pick  them  ; 
they  elude  your  grasp,  and  flourish  in  security  beyond  the  reach  of  arm 
or  stick. 

"  Such  is  the  site  of  the  old  town  of  Classis.  Not  a  vestige  of  the 
Roman  city  remains,  not  a  dwelling  or  a  ruined  tower,  nothing  but  the 
ancient  church  of  St.  Apollinare  in  Classe.  Of  all  desolate  buildings  this  is 
the  most  desolate.  Not  even  the  deserted  grandeur  of  San  Paolo 
beyond  the  walls  of  Rome  can  equal  it.  Its  huge  round  campanile 
gazes  at  the  sky,  which  here  vaults  only  sea  and  plain, — a  perfect  dome, 
star-spangled,  like  the  roof  of  Galla  Placidia's  tomb.  Ravenna  lies  low 
to  west,  the  pine-wood,  immeasuraljly  the  same,  to  east-  There  is 
nothing  else  to  be  seen  except  the  spreading  marsh,  bounded  by  dim 
snowy  Alps  and  purple  Apennines,  so  very  far  away  that  the  level  rack 


340  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

of  summer  clouds  seem  more  attainable  and  real.  What  sunsets  and 
sunrises  that  tower  must  see ;  what  glaring  lurid  after-glows  in  August, 
when  the  red  light  scowls  upon  the  pestilential  fen ;  what  sheets  of 
sullen  vapour  rolling  over  it  in  autumn  ;  what  breathless  heats,  and 
rain-clouds  big  with  thunder  ;  what  silences  ;  what  unimpeded  blasts  of 
winter  winds !  One  old  monk  tends  this  deserted  spot.  He  has  the 
huge  church  with  its  echoing  aisles,  and  marble  columns,  and  giddy  bell- 
tower,  and  cloistered  corridors,  all  to  himself.  At  rare  intervals,  priests  I 
from  Ravenna  come  to  sing  some  special  mass  at  these  cold  altars  ;  I 
pious  folks  make  vows  to  pray  upon  their  mouldy  steps,  and  kiss  the 
relics  which  are  shown  on  great  occasions.  But  no  one  stays  ;  they 
hurry,  after  muttering  their  prayers,  from  the  fever-stricken  spot,  re- 
serving their  domestic  pieties  and  customary  devotions  for  the  brighter 
and  newer  chapels  of  the  fashionable  churches  in  Ravenna.  So  the  old 
monk  is  left  alone  to  sweep  the  marsh  water  from  his  church  floor,  and 
to  keep  the  green  moss  from  growing  too  thickly  on  the  monuments. 
A  clammy  conserva  covers  everything  except  the  mosaics  upon  tribune, 
roof,  and  clerestory,  which  defy  the  course  of  age.  Christ  on  his  throne 
sedet,  eternumque  sedebit,  the  saints  around  him  glitter  with  their  pitiless 
uncompromising  eyes  and  wooden  gestures,  as  if  twelve  centuries  had 
not  passed  over  them,  and  they  were  nightmares  only  dreamed  last  night, 
and  rooted  in  a  sick  man's  memory.  For  those  gaunt  and  solemn  forms 
there  is  no  change  of  life  or  end  of  days.  No  fever  touches  them  ;  no 
dampness  of  the  wind  and  rain  loosens  their  firm  cement.  They  stare 
with  senseless  faces  in  bitter  ifiockery  of  men  who  live,  and  die,  and 
moulder  away  beneath.  Their  poor  old  guardian  told  us  it  was  a  weary 
life.  He  has  had  the  fever  three  times,  and  does  not  hope  to  survive 
many  more  Septembers.  The  very  water  that  he  drinks  is  brought  to 
him  from  Ravenna,  for  the  vast  fen,  though  it  pours  its  overflow  upon 
the  church  floor,  and  spreads  like  a  lake  around,  is  death  to  drink.  The 
monk  had  a  gentle  woman's  voice,  and  mild  brown  eyes.  What  terrible 
crime  had  consigned  him  to  this  living  tomb  ?  For  what  past  sorrow  is 
he  weary  of  his  life  ?  What  anguish  of  remorse  has  driven  him  to  such 
a  solitude  ?  Yet  he  looked  placid  and  simple ;  his  melancholy  was 
subdued  and  calm,  as  if  life  were  over  for  him,  and  he  were  waiting  for 
death  to  come  with  a  friend's  greeting  upon  noiseless  wings  some  sum- 
mer night  across  the  fen-lands  in  a  cloud  of  soft  destructive  fever-mist." 
— J.  A.  Symonds. 

"  The  appearance  of  S.  Apollinare  di  Fuori  is  injured  by  a  large  mass 
of  modem  workmanship,  added  in  front,  but  the  interior  is  spacious  and 
beautiful,  and  was  still  more  so  before  the  poverty  of  the  chapter  *  occa- 

•  As  far  back  as  the  isth  century. 


S.  APOLLINARE  IN  CLASSE.  341 

sioned  its  being  despoiled  of-  the  rich  marbles  which  originally  incased 
the  walls.  You  will  especially  admire  the  broad  and  airy  aisles,  and 
their  freedom  from  chapels  or  interruption  of  any  sort,  except  the 
characteristic  ornament  of  a  line  of  (moveable)  sarcophagi,  containing 
the  bones  of  the  early  archbishops.  This  church,  like  a  rock  deserted 
by  the  tide,  is  the  solitary  vestige  of  the  suburb  formerly  designated 
'  Classis, '  from  the  fleet  that  anchored  under  its  walls — the  spot  is  now 
four  miles  distant  from  the  sea,  and  most  dreary  and  desolate,  and  the 
tide  of  population  ebbed  for  ever.  But  the  church  is  not  the  less  interest- 
ing, both  on  account  of  its  architecture  and  its  mosaics,  and  an  hour's 
ride  to  the  north  of  it  will  carry  you  into  the  depths  of  the  Pineta,  which 
supplied  the  ships  that  wafted  Augustus  to  Actium,  and  the  Crusaders 
to  Palestine,  and  where,  if  you  watch  in  vain  for  the  spectre  Theodore 
and  the  scornful  Honoria,  you  may  at  least  hear  the  birds  singing  as 
sweetly  to  the  accompaniment  of  breeze  and  bough  as  they  did  in  Dante's 
ear  when  he  wrote  those  lovely  lines  in  the  Purgatorio,  introductory  of 
Matilda  ;  the  whole  description  indeed,  and  not  one  simile  only, 
breathes  of  the  Pineta." — Lindsay's  Christian  Art. 

The  Interior  is  172  feet  long  by  93  wide.  The  nave  is 
divided  from  its  aisles  by  24  columns  of  cippollino  with 
Corinthian  capitals  —  the  columns  probably  taken  from 
Pagan  edifices.  The  roof  is  of  wood.  At  the  east  end  a 
flight  of  steps  leads  to  the  tribune,  beneath  which  is  the 
crypt  containing  the  sarcophagus  of  S.  ApoUinaris.  On 
either  side  the  entrance  are  two  huge  sarcophagi  richly 
sculptured  with  early  Christian  emblems,  and  four  more 
stand  in  each  of  the  aisles,  containing  the  remains  of  Arch- 
bishops of  the  7  th  and  8  th  centuries.  In  the  left  aisle  is  an 
inscription  (modern)  stating  that  the  emperor  Otho  III., 
having  walked  barefoot  from  Rome  to  Monte  Gargano, 
passed  forty  days  in  penance  of  sackcloth  and  scourging  in 
this  church — "  ob  patrata  crimina" — i.  e,  for  the  murder  of 
Crescentius.  At  the  end  of  this  aisle,  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  is  a  tabernacle  of  the  9th  century,  over  the  altar 
of  S.  Felicola.     In  the  centre  of  the  nave  is  a  little  altar. 


342  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

■  "The  little  low  altar,  of  an  antiquity  coeval  with  that  of  the  church, 
which  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  nave,  is  the  sole  exception  to  the  entire 
and  utter  emptiness  of  the  place.  There  are,  indeed,  ranged  along  the 
walls  of  the  side  aisles,  several  ancient  marble  coffins,  curiously  carved, 
and  with  semi-circular  covers,  which  contain  the  bodies  of  the  earliest 
Bishops  of  the  See.  But  the  little  altar  is  the  sole  object  that  breaks  the 
continuity  of  the  open  floor.  The  body  of  S.  ApoUinare  was  originally 
laid  beneath  it,  but  was  in  a  subsequent  age  removed  to  a  more  specially 
honourable  position  under  the  high  altar  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  church. 
There  is  still,  however,  the  slab  deeply  carved  with  letters  of  ancient 
form,  which  tells  how  S.  Romuald,  the  founder  of  the  Order  of  Camal- 
doli,  praying  by  night  at  that  altar,  saw  in  a  vision  S.  ApoUinare, 
who  bade  him  leave  the  world  and  become  the  founder  of  an  order  of 
hermits." — A.  Trollope. 

Most  of  the  walls  of  the  nave  are  occupied  by  the  (chiefly 
imaginary)  portraits  of  the  unbroken  succession  of  130  Arch- 
bishops of  Ravenna.  But  the  tribune,  and  the  triumphal 
arch  in  front  of  it,  still  retain  their  precious  mosaics  of  the 
6th  century,  when  they  were  erected  by  Archbishop  S. 
Agnellus — being  "  the  first  picture  of  the  Transfiguration 
which  Italy  knew,  and  that  eight  centuries  before  Raphael." 

"  From  671  to  677  were  probably  erected  these  last  mosaic  decora- 
tions of  importance  at  Ravenna,  which,  now  that  the  history  of  art  has 
sustained  an  irreparable  injury  in  the  destruction  of  St.  Paul's  at  Rome, 
by  fire,  alone  give  us  any  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  whole  rows  of 
pictures  and  symbols  in  mosaic  were  employed  to  ornament  the  interior 
of  churches.  In  the  spandrils,  between  the  arches  of  the  centre  aisle,  we 
observe  an  almost  perfect  collection  of  those  earliest  symbols  of  Chris- 
tian art,  from  the  simple  monogram  to  the  Good  Shepherd  and  the 
Fisherman,  while  above  the  arch  in  a  row  of  medallions  are  the  por^ 
traits  of  the  Archbishops  of  Ravenna;  of  course  not  the  original  works 
— which,  owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  surface  of  these  walls  by  that 
enemy  of  art  Sigismund  Malatesta,  Lord  of  Rimini,  were  entirely  lost — 
but  apparently  correct  copies.  The  heads  here,  as  formerly  in  the  pic- 
tures of  the  Popes  in  S.  Paul's,  are  given  full  in  front,  the  profile  being 
totally  unknown  to  that  art. 

"  The  mosaics,  however,  in  and  above  the  apsis,  are  old  and  genuine — 
remarkable  relics  of  that  time  when  the  church  of  Ravenna,  in  league 
with  Byzantium,  once  more  declared  itself  Jupon  an  equality  with  the 


6-.  APOLLINARE  IN  CLASSE.  34J 

Roman  Church,  and  sought  by  paying  honour  to  its  own  patron  saint, 
S.  Apolhnaris  (the  scholar  of  S.  Peter),  to  place  him  upon  a  level  with 
that  apostle.  The  order  and  arrangement  of  these  mosaics  declare  this 
intention  in  the  clearest  way.  They  exemplify,  namely,  the  glorification 
of  the  Church  of  Ravenna.  In  the  semi-dome  of  the  apsis,  upon  a  blue 
ground,  with  light  pink  and  light  blue  clouds,  appears  a  blue  circle 
studded  with  gold  stars  and  set  in  jewels,  and,  within  this,  a  splendidly 
decorated  cross  with  a  half-length  figure  of  Christ  in  the  centre.  On 
each  side  of  the  circle  are  the  half-length  figures  of  Moses  and  Elijah 
emerging  from  the  clouds,  both,  on  account  of  their  transfiguration,  very 
youthfully  depicted.  Far  below,  upon  a  meadow  with  trees,  in  the 
centre  of  the  whole,  stands  S.  Apollinaris,  his  arms  raised  in  benedic- 
tion, surrounded  by  fifteen  sheep.  On  the  lower  walls  appear  four 
Ravenna  bishops,  on  a  blue  ground,  under  canopies  with  draperies  and 
chandeliers,  and  on  each  side  are  two  larger  pictures  of  the  sacrifices  of 
Abel,  Melchizedek,  and  Abraham,  and,  but  little  in  character  with  the 
foregoing,  the  granting  of  the  Privileges  to  the  Church  of  Ravenna.  In 
all  these  works  the  drawing  is  in  every  way  inferior  to  those  of  the  sixth 
century ;  the  execution,  however,  very  careful,  with  more  middle  tones 
than  usual ;  the  four  bishops  excepted,  who  are  rudely  and  sketchily 
treated,  and  are  only  distinguished  by  more  powerful  and  less  conven- 
tional heads. 

"The  two  side  pictures  of  the  lower  wall  merit  a  close  examination, 
especially  the  three  sacrifices,  which  are  here  combined  in  one  really 
spirited  composition,  and  in  point  of  execution  are  decidedly  the  best. 
Beneath  an  open  curtain,  behind  a  covered  table,  sits  the  venerable 
white-haired  Melchizedek,  in  diadem  and  crimson  mantle,  in  act  of 
breaking  the  bread.  On  the  left,  Abel  is  seen  advancing,  in  figure  of  a 
half-naked  youth  in  linen  chlamys,  carrying  a  lamb.  On  the  right, 
Abraham,  an  old  man  in  white  robes,  is  seen  leading  his  son,  who  is  not 
represented  naked  (as  in  S.  Vitale),  but  wears  a  yellow  robe.  The  cor- 
responding picture,  the  granting  of  the  Privileges,  is  slighter,  and  inferior 
in  drawing  and  execution,  so  that,  for  example,  the  outlines  of  the  heads 
are  rudely  conspicuous.  Three  imperial  youths,  with  nimbuses,  are 
advancing  from  a  curtained  door  of  the  palace — Constantinus,  who  is 
clad  in  the  crimson  mantle,  Heraclius,  and  Tiberius.  On  the  right, 
quietly  looking  on,  stands  the  Archbishop  of  Ravenna,  surrounded  by 
four  ecclesiastics,  one  of  whom  is  receiving  from  Constantine  a  roll  with 
a  red  inscription,  Privilegia.  Here  an  obvious  Byzantine  stiffness  is 
apparent,  as  compared  with  the  two  ceremonial  pictures  in  S.  Vitale. 
Upon  the  wall  above  the  tribune,  upon  a  strip  of  blue  ground,  may  be 
seen,  glimmering  through  the  dust  of  a  thousand  years,  a  half-length  of 


344  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Christ  with  the  signs  of  the  Evangelists.  These  are  succeeded  by  the 
twelve  sheep,  which  are  advancing  up  both  sides  of  the  arch  of  the  tri- 
bune ;  two  palm-trees  are  placed  lower  down.  Neither  animals  nor 
trees  are  superior  to  those  within  the  tribune.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
the  figures  of  the  Archangels  Michael  and  Gabriel,  which  are  introduced 
lower  down  at  the  side  of  the  tribune,  we  find  traces  of  a  good  antique 
taste.  Each  is  holding  in  his  right  hand  the  flag  of  victory  (the  Laba- 
rum\  while  the  left  so  grasps  the  crimson  mantle,  which  is  faced  with 
embroidered  cloth  of  gold,  that  a  part  of  the  white  tunic  is  visible.  The 
heads  are  of  youthful  beauty." — Kiigler. 

It  will  be  observed  in  this  mosaic  that  the  figure  of  S. 
Apollinare  occupies  the  central  space,  hitherto  assigned  only 
to  Christ. 

"  He  is  in  the  habit  of  a  Greek  bishop,  that  is,  in  white,  the  pallium 
embroidered  with  black  crosses,  no  mitre,  and  with  grey  hair  and  beard. 
He  stands,  with  hands  outspread,  preaching  to  his  congregation  of  con- 
verts, who  are  represented  by  several  sheep — the  common  symbol." — 
jfdmesotis  Sacred  Art. 

Nothing  remains  of  the  ancient  town  of  Classis,  destroyed 
by  Luitprand,  king  of  the  Lombards,  in  728.  The  name 
Classis  remained  in  that  of  Chiassi,  which  was  applied  to  the 
part  of  the  Pineta  near  this. 

Those  who  only  pay  a  hurried  visit  to  Eavenna  may  form 
some  idea  of  the  Pineta  by  entering  it  near  S.  Apollinare. 
Of  this  most  ancient  forest  no  mere  verbal  descrip- 
tion can  give  an  idea.  Yet  how  many  have  been  written, 
beginning  with  that  of  Dante,  who  must  constantly  have 
walked  here  while  the  guest  of  the  Polentani. 

"  Vago  gia  di  cercar  dentro  e  dintomo 

La  divina  foresta  spessa  e  viva, 

Ch'agli  occhi  temperava  il  nuovo  giomo, 

Senza  piu  aspettar  lasciai  la  riva, 
Prendendo  la  campagna  lento  lento, 
Su  per  lo  suol  che  d'ogni  parte  oliva. 

Un'  aura  dolce,  senza  mutamento 
Avere  in  se,  mi  feria  per  la  fronte 


I 


i 


THE  PINETA.  34S 

Non  di  pill  colpo  che  soave  vento  ; 

Per  cui  le  fronde,  tremolando  pronte, 
Tutte  quante  piegavano  alia  parte 
U'  la  prim'  ombra  gitta  il  santo  monte  ; 

Non  pero  dal  lor  esser  dritto  sparte 
Tanto,  che  gli  augelletti  per  le  cime 
Lasciasser  d'operare  ogni  lor  arte  ; 

Ma  con  plena  letizia  Tore  prime, 
Cantando,  ricevean  intra  le  foglie, 
Che  tenevan  bordone  alle  sue  rime, 

Tal,  qual  di  ramo  in  ramo  si  raccoglie 
Per  la  pineta,  in  sul  lito  di  Chiassi, 
Quand'  Eolo  Scirocco  fuor  discioglie. 

Gia  m'avean  trasportato  i  lenti  passi 
Dentro  all'  antica  selva,  tanto  ch'io 
Non  poter  rivedere  ond  'io  m'entrassi. 

Ed  ecco  piu  andar  mi  tolse  un  rio, 
Che'nver  sinistra  con  sue  picciole  onde 
Piegava  I'erba  che'n  sua  ripa  uscio. 

Tutte  I'acque  che  son  di  qua  piCi  monde, 
Parrieno  avere  in  se  mistura  alcuna. 
Verso  di  quella  che  nulla  nasconde  ; 

Avvegna  che  si  muov'a  bruna  bruna 
Sotto  I'ombra  perpetua,  che  mai 
Raggiar  non  lascia  Sole  ivi,  ne  Luna." 

Purgatoiio,  xxviii. 

Boccaccio  chose  the  Pineta  as  the  scene  of  his  tale  of  the 
Nastagio  degli  Onesti,  versified  by  Dryden  in  his  Theodore 
and  Honoria.  Byron,  who  lived  at  Ravenna  for  two  years, 
made  it  his  constant  ride.  The  inscription  on  his  house 
speaks  of  it  as  one  of  the  attractions  which  drew  him  to 
Ravenna — "  Impaziente  di  visitare  I'antica  selva,  che 
inspiro  gia  il  Divino  et  Giovanni  Boccaccio."  He  has 
himself  bequeathed  us  his  impression  of  it  : — 

•'  Sweet  hour  of  twilight, — in  the  solitude 
Of  the  pine-forest,  and  the  silent  shore 
Which  bounds  Ravenna's  immemorial  wood. 
Rooted  where  once  the  Adrian  wave  flow'd  o'er, 


346 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


To  where  the  last  Cesarean  fortress  stood, 

Evergreen  forest  !  which  Boccaccio's  lore 
And  Dryden's  lay  made  haunted  ground  to  me, 
How  have  I  loved  the  twilight  hour  and  thee !   , 

The  shrill  cicalas,  people  of  the  pine, 

Making  their  summer  lives  one  ceaseless  song. 

Were  the  sole  echoes,  save  my  steed's  and  mine, 
And  vesper  bells  that  rose  the  boughs  along  : 

The  spectre  huntsman  of  Onesti's  line. 

His  hell-dogs,  and  their  chase,  and  the  fair  throng 

Which  learn'd  from  his  example  not  to  fly 

From  a  true  lover, — shadow'd  my  mind's  eye." 

Don  yuan,  do.  iii. 


Pineta,  Ravenna. 


"  As  early  as  the  sixth  century  the  sea  had  already  retreated  to  such 
a  distance  from  Ravenna  that  orchards  and  gardens  were  cultivated  on 
the  spot  where  once  the  galleys  of  the  Caesars  rode  at  anchor.  Groves 
of  pine  sprung  up  along  the  shore,  and  in  their  lofty  tops  the  music  of 
the  wind  moved  like  the  ghost  of  waves  and  breakers  plunging  upon 
distant  sands.  This  Pinetum  stretches  along  the  shore  of  the  Adriatic 
for  about  forty  miles,  forming  a  belt  of  variable  width  between  the  great 


THE  PI  NET  A.  347 

marsh  and  the  tumbling  sea.  From  a  distance  the  bare  stems  and 
velvet  crowns  of  the  pine-trees  stand  up  like  palms  that  cover  an  oasis 
on  Arabian  sands  ;  but  at  a  nearer  view  the  trunks  detach  themselves 
from  an  inferior  forest-growth  of  juniper,  and  thorn,  and  ash,  and  oak,  the 
tall  roofs  of  the  stately  firs  shooting  their  breadth  of  sheltering  greenery- 
above  the  lower  and  less  sturdy  brushwood.  It  is  hardly  possible  to 
imagine  a  more  beautiful  and  impressive  scene  than  that  presented  by. 
these  long  alleys  of  imperial  pines.  They  grow  so  thickly  one  behind 
another,  that  we  might  compare  them  to  the  pipes  of  a  great  organ,  or 
the  pillars  of  a  Gothic  church,  or  the  basaltic  columns  of  the  Giant's 
Causeway.  Their  tops  are  evergreen  and  laden  with  heavy  cones, 
from  which  Ravenna  draws  considerable  wealth.  Scores  of  peasants  are 
quartered  on  the  outskirts  of  the  forest,  whose  business  it  is  to  scale  the 
pines,  and  rob  them  of  their  fruit  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year.  After- 
wards they  dry  the  fir-cones  in  the  sun,  until  the  nuts  which  they  contain 
fall  out.  The  empty  husks  are  sold  for  fire-wood,  and  the  kernels  in 
their  stony  cells  reserved  for  exportation.  You  may  see  the  peasants, 
men,  women,  and  boys,  sorting  them  by  millions,  drying  and  sifting 
them  upon  the  open  spaces  of  the  wood,  and  packing  them  in  sacks  to 
send  abroad  through  Italy.  The  pinocchi  or  kernels  of  the  stone-pine 
are  used  largely  in  cookery,  and  those  of  Ravenna  are  prized  for  their 
good  quality  and  aromatic  flavour.  When  roasted  or  pounded  they 
taste  like  a  softer  and  more  mealy  kind  of  almonds.  The  task  of 
gathering  this  harvest  is  not  a  little  dangerous.  They  have  to  cut 
notches  in  the  straight  shafts,  and-  having  climbed,  often  to  the  height  of 
eighty  feet,  to  lean  upon  the  branches,  and  detach  the  fir-cones  with  a 
pole, — and  this  for  every  tree.  Some  lives,  they  say,  are  yearly  lost  in 
the  business. 

' '  As  may  be  imagined,  the  spaces  of  this  great  forest  form  the  haunt  of 
innumerable  living  creatures.  Lizards  run  about  by  myriads  in  the 
grass.  Doves  coo  among  the  branches  of  the  pines,  and  nightingales 
pour  their  full-throated  music  all  day  and  night  from  thickets  of  white- 
thorn and  acacia.  The  air  is  sweet  with  aromatic  scents  ;  the  resin  of 
the  pine  and  juniper,  the  may-flowers  and  acacia-blossoms,  the  violets 
that  spring  by  thousands  in  the  moss,  the  wild  roses  and  faint  honey- 
suckles which  throw  fragrant  arms  from  bough  to  bough  of  ash  or  maple, 
join  to  make  one  most  delicious  perfume.  And,  though  the  air  upon  the 
neighbouring  marsh  is  poisonous,  here  it  is  dry,  and  spreads  a  genial 
health.  The  sea-wind,  murmuring  through  these  thickets  at  night-fall 
or  misty  sunrise,  conveys  no  fever  to  the  peasants  stretched  among  their 
flowers.  They  watch  the  red  rays  of  sunset  streaming  through  the 
columns  of  the  leafy  hall,  and  glaring  on  its  fretted  rafters  of  entangled 


348  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

boughs  ;  they  see  the  stars  come  out,  and  Hesper  gleam,  an  eye  of  bright- 
ness, among  dewy  branches  ;  the  moon  walks  silver-footed  on  the  velvet 
tree-tops,  while  they  sleep  beside  the  camp-fires  ;  fresh  morning  wakes 
them  to  the  sound  of  birds  and  scent  of  thyme  and  twinkling  of  dew- 
drops  upon  the  grass  around.  Meanwhile  ague,  fever,  and  death  have 
been  stalking  all  night  long  about  the  plain,  within  a  few  yards  of  their 
couch,  and  not  one  pestilential  breath  has  reached  the  charmed  precincts 
of  the  forest. 

"  You  may  ride  or  drive  for  miles  along  green  aisles  between  the  pines 
in  perfect  solitude  ;  and  yet  the  creatures  of  the  wood,  the  sunlight,  the 
birds,  the  flowers,  and  tall  majestic  columns  at  your  side,  prevent  all  sense 
of  loneliness  or  fear.  Huge  oxen  haunt  the  wilderness, — grey  creatures, 
with  wild  eyes  and  branching  horns  and  stealthy  tread.  Some  are 
patriarchs  of  the  forest,  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  many  generations 
who  have  been  carried  from  their  sides  to  serve  in  ploughs  or  waggons 
on  the  Lombard  plain.  Others  are  yearling  calves,  intractable  and 
ignorant  of  labour.  In  order  to  subdue  them  to  the  yoke,  it  is  necessary 
to  take  them  very  early  from  their  native  glades,  or  else  they  chafe  and 
pine  away  with  weariness.  Then  there  is  a  sullen  canal,  which  flows 
through  the  forest  from  the  marshes  to  the  sea  ;  it  is  alive  with  frogs  and 
newts  and  interminable  snakes.  You  may  see  these  serpents  basking 
on  the  surface  amid  thickets  of  the  flowering  rush,  or  coiled  about  the 
lily-leaves  and  flowers, — huge  monsters,  slippery  and  speckled,  the 
tyrants  of  the  fen." — J,  A.  Symonds. 

From  S.  Apollinare  one  may  return  to  the  tovm  by  the 
Porta  Sisi,  passing  the  Colonna  dei  Francest,  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  Ronco,  erected  in  1557  to  commemorate  the  great 
battle  gained  April  11,  15 12,  by  the  troops  of  Louis  XII. 
and  the  Duke  of  Ferrara  over  those  of  Julius  II.  The 
victory  was  marred  by  the  death  of  Gaston  de  Foix,  who 
fell  in  the  moment  of  victory.  20,000  dead  were  left  upon 
the  field. 

"  I  canter  by  the  spot  each  afternoon 

Where  perish'd  in  his  fame  the  hero-boy 
Who  lived  too  long  for  men,  but  died  too  soon 

For  human  vanity,  the  young  De  Foix  ! 
A  broken  pillar,  not  uncouthly  hewn. 

But  which  neglect  is  hastening  to  destroy, 


SHORE  OF  RA  VENNA.  349 

Records  Ravenna's  carnage  on  its  face, 

While  weeds  and  verdure  rankle  round  the  base. 

I  pass  each  day  where  Dante's  bones  are  laid  ; 

A  little  cupola,  more  neat  than  solemn. 
Protects  his  dust,  but  reverence  here  is  paid 

To  the  bard's  tomb,  and  not  the  warrior's  column  ; 
The  time  must  come  when  both,  alike  decay'd 

The  chieftain's  trophy  and  the  poet's  volume, 
Will  sink  where  lie  the  songs  and  wars  of  earth, 
Before  Pelides'  death,  or  Homer's  birth. 

With  human  blood  that  column  was  cemented, 

With  human  filth  that  column  is  defiled, 
As  if  the  peasant's  coarse  contempt  were  vented 

To  show  his  loathing  of  the  spot  he  soil'd  : 
Thus  is  the  trophy  used,  and  thus  lamented 

Should  ever  be  those  bloodhounds  from  whose  wild 
Instinct  of  gore  and  glory  earth  has  known 
Those  sufferings  Dante  saw  in  hell  alone." 

Byron,  Don  yuan. 

In  the  Strada  di  Porta  Sisi  (No.  225)  Lord  Byron  lived 
in  18 1 9,  as  is  commemorated  by  an  inscription.  He  moved 
hence  to  the  Palazzo  GuiccioU,  328  Via  di  Porta  Adriana, 
where  many  of  his  poems  were  written. 

The  present  harbour  of  Ravenna,  only  used  by  small 
coasting  vessels,  is  about  four  miles  distant,  and  connected 
with  the  port  at  Porta  Alberoni  by  a  canal.  Near  it  is  a 
hut  where  the  visionary  but  disinterested  patriot  Garibaldi 
concealed  himself  from  the  Austrians  during  his  flight  from 
Rome  in  1849,  and  here  his  noble-minded  wife  Anita  died 
from  the  privations  to  which  she  had  been  exposed,  and  was 
buried. 

"The  least 
Dead  for  Italia  not  in  vain  has  died. 

.   .  .  Forlorn 
Of  thanks  be,  therefore,  no  one  of  these  graves. 
Not  hers,— who,  at  her  husband's  side,  in  scorn, 


SSO  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Outfaced  the  whistling  shot  and  hissing  waves, 

Until  she  felt  her  little  babe  unborn 
Recoil,  within  her,  from  the  violent  slaves 

And  bloodhounds  of  this  world, — at  which,  her  life 
Dropt  inwards  from  her  eyes,  and  followed  it 

Beyond  the  hunters.     Garibaldi's  .wife 
And  child  died  so.     And  now,  the  sea-weeds  fit 

Her  body,  like  a  proper  shroud  and  coif, 
And  murmurously  the  ebbing  waters  quit 

The  little  pebbles  while  she  lies  interred 
In  the  sea-sand." 

E.  Barrett-Brmmiing. 

It  is  strongly  to  be  recommended  that  those  who  proceed 
from  Ravenna  to  Rimini  should  drive  thither  in  a  carriage 
(about  five  hours,  and  for  a  party  not  nearly  so  expensive  as 
the  railway).  The  road  skirts  the  Pineta,  passes  through 
the  picturesque  little  town  of  Cesenatico,  and,  about  nine 
miles  before  entering  Rimini,  crosses  (near  Sant'.  Archangelo, 
the  birth-place  of  Clement  XIV.)  the  stream  of  the  Uso. 
This  is  generally  considered  to  be  the  Rubicon*  which, 
though  a  small  river,  had  once  a  great  importance,  as  from 
forming  the  boundary  between  Umbria  and  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
it  came,  when  the  limits  of  Italy  were  considered  to  extend 
only  to  the  frontiers  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  to  be  regarded  as 
the  northern  boundary  of  Italy.  This  it  was  which  caused 
the  passage  of  the  Rubicon  by  Caesar  to  be  regarded  as  so 
momentous  an  event.  Here  the  Genius  of  Rome  arose  to 
restrain  her  son. 

"  Ut  ventum  est  parvi  Rubiconis  ad  undas 
Ingens  visa  duci  patriae  trepidantis  imago, 

•  For  a  long  time  the  identification  of  the  Rubicon  was  a  matter  of  controversy,  and 
the  Pisatello,  two  miles  from  Cesena,  was  regarded  as  having  the  principal  claim  to 
the  name.  An  action  which  involved  the  inquiry  was  instituted  at  Rome,  and  in 
1756  the  decision  of  the  "  Rota"  was  given  in  favour  of  the  Uso. 


THE  RUBICON. 


351 


Clara  per  obscuram  vultu  mcestissima  noctem 
Turrigero  canos  effundere  vertice  crines." 

Lucan,  i.  185.* 

The  smallness  of  this  and  other  historic  streams  in  Italy 
will  produce  almost  a  shock — 


S.  Maria  Pomposa. 


•  "  Now  near  the  banks  of  Rubicon  he  stood  ; 
When  lo  !  as  he  survey'd  the  narrow  flood. 
Amidst  the  dusky  horrors  of  the  night, 
A  wondrous  vision  stood  confest  to  sight. 
Her  awful  head  Rome's  rev'rend  image  rear'd. 
Trembling  and  sad  the  matron  form  appear'd  ; 
A  tow'ry  crown  her  hoary  temples  bound. 
And  her  torn  tresses  rudely  hung  around." — Ro-we. 


352  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

"Sometimes  misguided  by  the  tuneful  throng, 
I  look  for  streams  immortalized  in  song, 
That  lost  in  silence  and  oblivion  lie 
(Dumb  are  their  fountains,  and  their  channels  dry). 
Yet  run  for  ever  by  the  muses'  skill, 
And  in  the  smooth  description  murmur  still." 

Eustace. 


Equally  distant  from  Ravenna  and  Ferrara,  but  a  long 
day's  journey  from  either  place,  and  most  difficult  to  visit,  as 
there  is  no  sleeping  accommodation  possible  in  the  dismal 
marshes  of  Comacchio,  is  the  strangely  grand  and  utterly 
desolate  Church  of  S.  Maria  Pomposd.  It  is  of  the  same 
class  with  the  noblest  of  the  Ravenna  churches,  and  has 
sculptured  capitals  which  rival  those  of  S.  Vitale  in  their 
richness  and  delicacy. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
FAENZA  AND  FORLI. 

l/i  hr,  by  rail  (7  frs.  25  c.  ;  5  frs.  10  c.)  from  Bologna  brings  travel- 
lers through  the  ugly,  marshy  Emilia  to  Forli,  20  min.  before  reaching 
which,  we  pass — 


F 


AENZA  {Inn.  Corona),  which  by  tradition  derives  its 
name  from  Phaeton. 

"Ecco  I'eccelsa 
Cittci  che  prese  nome  da  colui 
Che  si  mal  careggio  la  via  del  sole, 
E  cadde  in  Val  di  Po." — Carlo  PepoU,  VEretno,  c.  ii. 

Faenza  occupies  the  site  of  the  ancient  Faventia,  where 
Carbo  and  Norbanus  were  defeated  by  Metellus,  the  general 
of  Sylla,  B.C.  82.  In  1376  the  medigeval  town  was  pillaged 
with  a  horrible  massacre  of  4000  inhabitants  by  the  papal 
troops  under  the  English  condottiere  Sir  John  Hawkwood. 
Dante  alludes  to  the  signory  of  the  Pagani  at  Faenza,  who 
bore  as  their  arms  a  lion  on  a  silver  field. 

"  La  citta  di  Lamone  e  di  Santemo 
Conduce  il  leoncel  dal  nido  bianco, 
Che  muta  parte  della  state  al  verno." — Inf.  xxvii. 

From  the  Station  a  straight  street  leads  into  the  heart  of 
the  town,  passing  (left)  the  Piazza  S.  Francesco,  containing 
VOL.  II.  23 


354  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

a  modern  statue  of  Evangelista  Torricelli,  a  native  of  Faenza, 
by  whom  the  barometer  was  invented. 

The  once  picturesque  Piazza  Grande  was  completely 
ijiodernized  in  1873.  ^^  has  a  pretty  fountain  with  bronze 
ornaments.  There  is  little  in  front  to  mark  (right)  the  old 
Palace  of  the  Manfredi,  sovereign  lords  of  Faenza,  but  a 
curious  window  may  be  seen  in  the  court  behind.  This 
palace  was  the  scene  of  the  famous  tragedy  of  Vincenzo 
Monti — "  Galeotto  Manfredi " — but  the  facts  were  not  as  he 
recounts  them.  A  monk,  who  was  an  astrologer,  had  told 
Galeotto  that  he  would  be  supplanted  by  his  brother, 
and  one  day  his  wife,  who  was  Francesca  Bentivoglio, 
daughter  of  the  Lord  of  Bologna,  taunted  him  with  this.  In 
his  irritation  he  gave  her  a  blow,  which  she  never  forgave. 
Some  time  after,  she  feigned  to  be  ill,  and  sent  for  her  hus- 
band, and  an  assassin  concealed  in  the  curtains  fell  upon  him. 
Being  a  strong  man,  Galeotto  was  getting  the  better  of  his 
murderer  and  throttling  him,  when  Francesca,  springing  from 
the  bed,  stabbed  him  in  the  stomach  and  he  fell.  Francesca 
was  afterwards  imprisoned  by  the  people  of  Faenza,  but  was 
released  at  the  instance  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici. 

Left  of  the  piazza  rises  the  rugged  brick  front  of  the 
Cathedral,  dedicated  to  S.  Constantius,  1st  bishop  of 
Faenza,  313.     It  contains  : — 

Right,  i^h  Chapel.  Innocenzo  da  Imola,  1526.  Holy  Family  and 
saints — one  of  the  best  pictures  of  the  master. 

Left  of  High  Altar.  Tomb  of  S.  Sabinus,  Bishop  of  Faenza,  with 
reliefs  relating  to  the  story  of  his  life  by  Benedetto  da  Majano. 

Left,  yd  Chapel.  Tomb  of  S.  Pietro  Damiano  of  Ravenna,  who 
died  at  Faenza. 

A  Street  leads  left  to  the  Archiginasto,  containing  the 


PINACOTECA  OF  FAENZA,  355 

Pinacoteca,  a  small  gallery,  but  interesting  as  illustrating  the 
once  numerous  and  remarkable  school  of  Faenza. 
The  best  pictures  are  : — 

1st  Hall. — 

C.     I.   Gianbattista  Beyhicci,  1516.     Virgin  and  Child,  with  S.  John 

and  angels. 
C.     6.  Id.    God  the  Father. 
C.     4.  Id.     S.  Lorenzo  and  .S.  Romualdo. 

C.  5.   Id.     S.  Ippolito  and  S.  Bene^tto  (1506). 

These  five  pictures  are  most  beautiful  works  of  a  very  rare  master,  on 
no  account  to  be  confused  with  another  and  very  inferior  Gianbattista 
Bertucci,  his  grandson. 

D.  2.  Marco  Palmezzani.     The  Bearing  of  the  Cross. 

D.  10.   S.  Bernardino  da  Feltre  with  the  little  Astorgio  III.  Manfredi, 

last  sovereign  of  Faenza.  A  very  interesting  picture. 
Astorgio,  son  of  the  murdered  Galeotto  by  Francesca 
Bentivoglio,  was  taken  to  Rome  by  Csesar  Borgia,  and 
drowned  by  him  in  the  Tiber  at  the  age  of  16. 

2nd  Hall. — 

E.  32.  Innocenzo  da  Imola.     Holy  Family. 

E.  34.  Id.     Holy  Family,  with  SS.  John  and  Catherine. 

F.  I.  Giacomo  Bertucci,  son  of  Gianbattista,  signed  1565.    Corona- 

tion of  the  Virgin,  with  saints  beneath. 
F.     2.  Guido  Reni  (from  the  Cappuccini).      Virgin  and  Child,  with 
SS.  Francis  and  Christina — a  very  fine  picture. 

F.  3.    Giacomo  Bertucci,  1552.     The  Deposition. 

G.  XT).  Antonio di Mazzone,  i<)00.     Virgin  and  Child,  with  SS.  Peter, 

Paul,  Domenic,  Mark,  and  Luke. 
G.  24,  Michele  Manzoni,  1066.     The  Martyrdom  of  S.  Eutropius. 
H.    3.  Marco  Manchetti.     Christ  in  the  Pharisee's  House. 


In  a  street  some  distance  on  the  other  side  of  the  piazza, 
is  the  Church  of  S,  Maglorio  (a  bishop  of  Faenza),  which 
contains  : — 

*LeJt,  2nd  Altar.   Girolamo  da  Treviso  (sometimes  attributed  to  Gior- 


356  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

gione).      A  most  lovely  Holy  Family,  with  SS.  Severe  and  Gregorio. 
The  Holy  Child  holds  a  bird. 

At  the  further  end  of  the  town,  in  the  Church  of  the 
Commenda  in  Borgo  is  another  fresco  by  the  same  master, 
1533.  In  the  adjoining  priest's  house  a  bust  of  the  Baptist 
hy  JDonatello,  1420 — "  singularly  refined,  as  well  as  simple, 
true,  and  natural  in  expression." 


A  quarter  of  an  hour  more  of  railway  brings  us  to  Forli 
{Inn.  Posta,  on  the  Corso). 

Forli  occupies  the  site  of  the  ancient  Forum  Livii  founded  by  the 
Consul'Livius  Salinator  after  the  defeat  of  Hasdrubal  on  the  Metaurus. 
Here  Galla  Placidia  married  Ataulpus,  King  of  the  Visigoths,  in  410. 
Forli  was  an  independent  Guelphic  city  till  131S)  when  the  sovereignty 
was  usurped  by  the  Ordelaffi. 

In  1438  Forli  was  the  birth-place  of  the  great  painter  Melozzo  :  in 
1682  of  Morgagni,  the  founder  of  Pathologic  Anatomy. 

The  town  is  prosperous  and  busy,  and  the  Corso  a  very 
handsome  street.  It  ends  in  the  Piazza.  Here  stood  the 
palace  in  which  Girolamo  Riario,  nephew  of  Sixtus  IV.,  was 
murdered. 

"  On  the  evening  of  the  14th  of  April,  1488,  Checco  d'Orsi  (to  whom 
he  had  long  refused  to  pay  his  debts,  presented  himself  at  the  prince's 
usual  hour  of  granting  audiences.  It  was  after  supper,  and  the  Duchess 
Caterina  Sforza  had  retired  to  her  secret  bower,  a  point  of  much  im- 
portance to  Checco  and  his  friends.  Entering  the  palace  they  made  quite 
sure  that  the  business  in  hand  should  not  be  interrupted  by  any  inter- 
ference of  hers,  by  placing  a  couple  of  their  number  at  the  foot  of  the 
stair  which  led  to  her  private  apartments.  The  others  passing  on  to  the 
great  hall— Sala  dei  Ninfi — found  Girolamo  leaning  with  one  elbow  on 
the  sill  of  the  great  window  looking  on  to  the  Piazza  Grande,  and  talk- 
ing with  his  Chancellor.  There  was  one  servant  also  in  the  further  part 
of  the  hall. 

*' '  How  goes  it,  Checco  mio?'  said  he,  putting  out  his  hand  kindly, 
"  '  That  way  goes  it ! '  replied  his  murderer,  stabbing  him  mortally  as 
he  uttered  the  words. 


I 


S.  MERCURIALE,  DUOMO.  357 

"So  Catherine  became  a  widow  with  six  children,  at  twenty-six  years 
of  age." — T.  A.  Trollope. 

In  the  piazza  itself,  a  month  afterwards,  the  minor  con- 
spirators were  publicly  torn  to  pieces,  and  Count  Orsi,  in  his 
85th  year,  after  being  forced  to  witness  the  total  destruction 
of  his  family  palace — the  greatest  indignity  an  Italian  noble 
could  suffer — was  dragged  to  death  at  a  horse's  tail,  after 
which  his  side  was  opened  and  his  heart  torn  out  before 
the  people.  Some  arches  and  a  Gothic  colonnade  are 
probably  remains  of  the  palace  of  Riario  Sforza. 

Facing  upon  the  piazza,  stands  the  Church  of  S.  Menuri- 
ale,  with  a  grand  brick  campanile.  Over  the  entrance  is 
a  curious  group  of  the  Adoration  of  the  MagL  First,  the 
Three  Kings  are  seen  in  bed  and  the  angel  appears  to  them ; 
afterwards  they  are  portrayed  again,  taking  off  their  crowns 
before  the  Virgin.     In  the  interior  are  : — 

Right,  ^tk  Chapel.  Marco  Palmezzani.  Virgin  and  Child,  with  SS. 
John  and  Catherine. 

Left,  j\ih  Chapel.  Id.  A  group  of  saints  kneehng,  to  whom  God  the 
Father  appears  with  a  multitude  of  angels.  A  very  grand  picture.  In 
the  lunette  is  the  Resurrection. 

From  S.  Mercuriale  a  street  leads  direct  to 
The  Cathedral  of  Santa  Croce,  which  has  a  good  brick 
campanile.      In  the  left  transept  is  the  famous  chapel  of 
La  Madotifia  del  Fuoco,  of  which  the  cupola  is  the  master- 
piece of  Carlo  Cignani. 

"  He  spent  the  closing  years  of  a  long  life  at  Forli,  where  he  estab- 
lished his  family,  and  left  the  proudest  monument  of  his  genius  in  that 
grand  cupola,  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  pictorial  produc- 
tions of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  subject  is  the  Assumption  of  our 
Lady,  the  same  as  in  the  cathedral  at  Parma  ;  and  here,  too,  as  there, 
it  exhibits  such  a  real  paradise,  that  the  more  we  contemplate  it,  the 
more  it  delights  us.     Near  twenty  years  were  devoted  to  its  production. 


358  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

from  time  to  time  ;  the  artist,  occasionally,  during  that  period,  visiting 
Ravenna,  to  consult  the  cupola  by  Guido,  from  whom  he  took  his  fine 
figure  of  S.  Michael,  and  some  other  ideas.  It  is  reported  that  the  scaf- 
folds were,  against  his  wish,  removed,  as  he  appeared  never  to  be  satis- 
fied with  retouching  and  bringing  the  work  to  his  usual  degree  of 
finish." — Lanzi. 

Cignani  and  Torricelli  are  buried  in  this  church.  It  con- 
tains a  ciborium  from  a  design  of  Michael  Angela,  an  altar- 
piece  (last  chapel  right)  by  Marco  Palmezzani,  1506,  and 
(under  glass)  "  La  Madonna  delle  Grazie,"  by  Gugliehno 
degli  Orga?ii,  a  disciple  of  Giotto. 

The  street  which  faces  the  west  end  of  the  Duomo  will 
lead,  right,  to  the  Church  of  S.  Girolamo,  which  contains  : — 

Right,  1st  Chapel,  covered  with  much  injured  but  beautiful  frescoes  by 
Melozzo  da  Forli,  who  painted  1472  — 1475,  and  his  pupil  Marco  Pal- 
mezzani. The  kneeling  figures  of  pilgrims  in  the  lunette  are  portraits 
of  Girolamo  Riario  and  Caterina  Sforza. 

zmi  Chapel.  The  exquisitely  beautiful  tomb  of  Barbara  OrdelaflS, 
wife  of  Piero,  lord  of  Faenza,  ob.  1466. 

"The  histor}'  of  this  ambitious  and  wicked  woman  is  singularly  at  vari- 
ance with  the  lovely  and  beautiful  image  upon  the  sarcophagus  in  which 
she  is  buried  ;  and  with  the  epithet  '  ottima,'  which  is  applied  to  her  in 
the  epitaph  upon  it. 

"The  daughter  of  Astorgio  Manfredi,  she  was  betrothed  when  seven 
years  old  to  Piero  Ordelaffi,  and  became  his  wife  in  1462.  Thirsting 
for  power,  she,  with  her  father's  connivance,  persuaded  her  husband  to 
seize  and  imprison  his  elder  brother  Cecco,  lord  of  Forli,  and  thus  make 
himself  master  of  the  city ;  but  feeling  their  position  insecure  while  the 
prisoner  lived,  she  mixed  poison  with  the  food  which  she  sent  him  in 
the  Torre  del  Orologio.  He  escaped  this  danger,  thanks  to  his  wife 
Elisabeth,  who  shared  his  prison,  and  who  bore  about  her  person  a  ring 
which  had  the  virtue  of  detecting  poisons,  but  was  soon  after  killed  by  a 
band  of  assassins,  employed  by  Barbara.  The  plague  having  broken  out 
at  Forli,  she  removed  to  Forlimpopoli  with  her  husband,  who  left  her 
there  and  went  to  Florence.  She  would  have  followed  him,  had  she 
not  shortly  been  taken  ill,  and  died,  as  it  is  supposed,  from  the  effects  of 
poison,  which  he,  'for  reasons  unknown,'  caused  to  be  administered  to 
her." — Perkins. 


PINACOTECA  OF  FORLI.  359 

*3ri/  Chapel.  Guido  Reni.  The  Conception.  One  of  the  best  works 
of  the  master.     Right,  the  tomb  of  Morgagni,  the  Anatomist. 

^h  Chapel.     Injured  cupola,  with  angels  attributed  to  Palmezzani. 

Left,  1st  Pillar.  A  recently  discovered  fresco  of  the  Virgin  and  Child 
throned  between  SS.  Jerome  and  Francis. 

The  other  churches  of  Forli  are  little  worth  visiting.  All 
their  good  pictures  have  been  removed  to  the  Pinacoteca, 
and  many  of  them  are  now  turned  into  barracks. 

A  street  on  the  right  of  the  Corso,  opposite  the  Hotel  La 
Posta,  leads  to  the  Piazza  San  Pellegrino.  Here  is  the 
Church  oft/ie  Servi,  which  contains  (right  of  entrance)  a  tomb 
with  a  relief  of  the  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds,  executed  in 
his  life-time  by  Luffo  Numai,  as  his  own  monument  and  that 
of  his  wife  Caterina  Paolucci. 

Opposite  this,  in  the  former  convent  of  the  Frati  della 
Missione,  are  the  Public  Library,  and  the  Finacoteca,  which 
is  deeply  interesting  as  deriving  all  its  wealth  from  native 
art.  Here  alone  can  be  studied  the  grand  works  of  Melozzo 
da  Forli  and  his  pupil  Marco  Palmezzani — the  latter  of 
whom  founded  a  numerous  school.  Indeed,  except  the 
fresco  in  the  Vatican  and  a  fragment  on  the  staircase  of  the 
Quirinal,  there  are  no  important  works  of  Melozzo  out  of 
Forli.  It  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  masters  of  this  school  that 
they  always  signed  their  works  in  full,  on  a  parchment 
brought  by  some  means  into  the  picture.  In  their  sacred 
subjects  they  also  always  endeavoured  to  introduce  the 
patron  saints  of  the  city,  the  Bishop  Mercuriale  and  the 
warrior  Valeriano.  It  is  remarkable  that  Melozzo  and  his 
followers  associate  themselves  entirely  with  the  school  of 
Mantegna,  and  have  nothing  whatever  in  common  with  the 
neighbouring  school  of  Bologna.  We  may  notice  in  the 
gallery : — 


36o  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

79.  Damiano  da  Zotto  da  Forli.     S.  Sebastian. 

80.  Francesco  Alenzocchi  da  Forli,  a  pupil  of  Palmezzani,  1502 — 1574. 

Portrait  of  Cesarina,  daughter  of  the  famous  Francesco  Her- 
colani. 

86.  Gttercino.     A  beautiful  picture  from  the  Church  of  S.  Filippo 

Neri.  Above,  Gabriel  receives  the  Message  of  the  Annunci- 
ation from  the  Almighty  ;  below,  the  Vii^n,  a  sweet  country- 
girl,  kneels,  reading. 

87.  Livio  Agresti  da  Forli,  c.  is8a  The  Presentation  in  the  Temple. 
89.  Id.     The  Crucifixion. 

9a  Niccolb  Rondinelli.     Virgin  and  Child. 
92.  F.  Fraftcia.     The  Nativity. 
94.  Bagnacavallo.  Holy  Family. 
*96.  Marco  Palmezzani,  1456  — 1540.     Portrait  of  Caterina  Sforza. 
98.  Baldassare  Carrari  da  Forli.  Coronationof  the  Virgin.  Beneath, 
on  the  left,  S.  Benedict  and  S.  Mercuriale  with  the  town  of 
-    Forli ;  on  the  right,  S.  Giovanni  Gualberto  and  S.  Bernardo. 
104.  Francesco  Menzocchi,      Crucifixion,    with   S.    Bernardino   and 

S.  Roch. 
1 10.  Pier  Paolo  Menzocchi  da  Forli.     The  Donation  of  the  Rosary. 
*H2.  A/arco   Palmezzani.      A   most  interesting    triptych.      In    the 
centre,  the  Madonna  and  Child,  with  Girolamo  and  Caterina 
Sforza  kneeling  at  their  feet ;   at  the  sides,  saints  ;  in  the 
predella,  Christ  and  the  Apostles. 
113.  Marco  Valeria  Morolini  da  Forli,  a  pupil  of  Palmezzani.     The 

Annunciation. 
113.  bis.     Bartolommeo  da  Fctrli.     The  Deposition. 

115.  Marco  Palmezzani.    The  Crucifixion — a  fresco. 

116.  Carlo  Cignani.     The  Madonna  crowning  S.  Rosa. 

*II7.  Fratuesco   Zaganelli    (II    Cotignola),    1471 — 1540.     God   the 
Father,  with  kneeling  saints.     A  very  beautiful  picture. 
124.  Bagnacavallo.     Holy  Family  and  donor. 

*I26.  Marco  Melozzo  da  Forli.  S.  Antonio  throned  between  S. 
Sebastian  and  S.  John  the  Baptist.  The  pig  appears  beneath. 
On  the  throne  are  the  arms  of  the  Austoli  family,  for  whom 
the  picture  was  painted.  God  the  Father  is  in  a  lunette 
above.  This  was  formerly  in  the  Church  of  the  Carmine. 
The  colouring  is  quite  magnificent. 

♦128.  Marco  Palmezzani.  The  Annunciation.  The  Angel  with  his 
lily  kneels  before  the  Virgin,  who  is  seated  under  an  arch. 
Behind,  is  a  lovely  Umbrian  landscape,  with  figures  hawk- 
ing and  fishing :  the  Dove  of  the  Holy  Spirit  appears  on  a 
cloud. 


PINACOTECA  OF  FORLI:  361 

130.  Giuseppe   Galeppini  da  Forli  (1625 — 1650).     Marriage   of    S. 

Catherine. 

131.  Livio  Agresti.     The  Deposition. 

132.  Paolo  Cignani  (1709 — 1764).     The  Miracle  of  S.  Domenico. 
136.  Barbara  Longhi   (of  Ravenna).     Virgin  and  Child,   with  SS. 

Mercuriale  and  Valeriano. 
141.  Fr.  Albani.     S.  Sebastian. 

*I44.  Saiola  di  Melozzo.  Virgin  and  Child  throned,  with  SS.  Biagio 
and  Valeriano.  A  grand  picture,  the  face  of  the  young 
warrior  Valeriano  quite  beautiful. 

♦145.  Marco  Palmezzani.  The  Bearing  of  the  Cross.  The  heads  are 
full  of  expression  and  grandeur.  Were  it  not  signed,  this 
picture  would  be  taken  for  a  Bellini.  The  rich  ornamentation 
on  the  robe  of  the  Saviour  is  quite  his.  This  is  the  favourite 
subject  of  the  Master :  it  is  repeated  in  the  gallery  at  Faenza. 
146.  Fr.  Menzocchi.  Virgin  and  Child,  with  SS.  Mercuriale  and 
Valeriano. 

♦147.  Marco  Palmezzani.  The  Last  Supper,  represented  as  a  Sacra- 
ment. A  most  noble  picture.  The  scene  is  a  rich  portico, 
backed  by  wild  Umbrian  mountains.  The  Saviour,  in  a 
long  blue  robe,  with  an  expression  of  awful  solemnity  and 
sympathy,  administers  the  wafer  to  S.  Peter,  S.  John  stands 
by  as  a  deacon  with  the  chalice.  The  other  disciples  kneel 
behind  rapt  in  devotion,  except  Judas,  who  kneels  behind 
Christ  with  an  expression  careless  and  pre-occupied.  Behind, 
like  a  vision,  is  seen  the  rejection  of  the  Temptation. 

*I48.  Marco  Palmezzani.  A  grand  portrait  of  the  artist  painted  (like 
all  his  pictures  on  wood)  in  his  80th  year  for  his  tomb  in 
S.  Domenico,  where  it  long  remained.  It  was  withdrawn  by 
his  family  and  sold  to  the  Commune.  Florence  and  other 
galleries  have  offered  immense  sums  for  this  picture. 
150.   Guercino.     S.  John  Baptist. 

*15I.  Giorgione  (sometimes  attributed  to  Raphael).  Portrait  of  Caesar 
Borgia,  Duke  of  Valentinois.  His  other  portraits  are  in  the 
Borghese  gallery  at  Rome  and  in  the  Castelbarco  Gallery 
at  Milan.     This  is  a  simple  and  beautiful  picture. 

154.  Marco  Palmezzani.     Presentation  in  the  Temple. 

155.  Id.     The  Flight  into  Egypt.    These  two  pictures  are  very  small, 

but  full  of  character  and  beauty. 
*l6o.   Francesco  Menzocchi.     Portrait  of  Cesare  Hercolani,  warrior  of 
Forli,  one  of  those  who  took  Francis  1st  prisoner  at  Pavia. 
The  saddle-cloth  of  the  king  was  always  preser\'ed  in  this 
family,  lately  extinct. 


362  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

i6l.  Damiano  di  Zotto.     S.  Roch. 

162.   Guido  Reni.     Head  of  the  Madonna.     A  study  for  the  picture 
of  the  Conception  in  S.  Girolamo. 

{Over  the  Entrance)  Guido  Cagnacci.  Two  pictures  of  saints  of 
local  interest,  as  having  been  carried  as  standards  at  the  translation 
of  La  Madonna  del  Fuoco. 

The  Citadel,  begun  by  Cardinal  Albomoz  in  1359,  was 
enlarged  under  the  Ordelaffi  and  the  Riarii. 

Forli  is  the  residence  of  the  disinterested  patriot  Aurelio 
Saffi,  one  ofthe  Roman  triumvirate  of  1849.  He  is  remark- 
able for  the  heroism  with  which  he  has  endured  many  vicissi- 
tudes of  fortune,  not  the  least  that  of  his  arrest  at  Rimini  in 
1874  (to  prevent  his  possible  influence  in  the  elections),  with 
23  of  his  friends,  when,  after  a  month's  incarceration  in  the 
malefactors'  prison  at  Spoleto,  and  two  months  of  solitary 
confinement  at  Perugia,  they  were  released  (hurried  from 
their  cells  secretly  at  night  for  fear  of  a  demonstration),  the 
Government  sirjiply  saying  that  they  had  "  made  a  mistake, 
and  that  there  was  no  longer  any  occasion  to  proceed  against 
them." 


» 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

RIMINI  AND  S.  MARINO. 

IT  is  a  little  more  than  an  hour  by  rail  (5  frs.  30  c.  3  3  frs. 
70c.)  from  Forli  to  Rimini,  passmg : — 
Forlimpoli  (Stat.).     The  ancient  Forum  Popilii. 
Cesenai^izX..).  Cesenawas  the  last  town  of  Cisalpine  Gaul 
on  the  Via  Emilia.     Its  situation  on  the  Savio  is  described 
by  Dante  : — 

"E  quelle,  a  mi  il  Savio  bagiia  il  fiatico, 

Cosi  com  '  ella  sic '  tra  il  piano  e  il  monte 
Tra  tirannia  si  vive  e  stato  franco." — Inf.  xxxii. 

It  is  very  picturesque  from  a  distance,  surmounted  by  its 
rock-built  castle.  The  bishopric  of  Cesena  is  one  of  the 
oldest  in  Italy,  and  is  said  to  have  been  founded  by  S. 
Philemon,  a.d.  92.  The  town  was  pillaged  and  its  inhabit- 
ants cruelly  massacred  to  the  number  of  3000  persons  by  the 
Legate,  Cardinal  Robert  of  Geneva,  afterwards  the  Anti-pope 
Clement  VII.  Pius  VI.  (Giov.  Angelo  Braschi)  and  Pius 
VII.  (Gregorio  Barnabe  Chiaramonte)  were  both  natives  of 
this  town,  and  there  is  a  statue  of  the  former  in  the  Palazzo 
Pubblico,  which  contains  a  fine  fresco  of  Francesco  Francia — 
a  Madonna  and  Saints.  In  front  of  the  Palazzo  is  a  hand- 
some fountain.  The  Library,  founded  by  Malatesta  Novello, 
1452,  contains  much  that  is  interesting. 


364  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  Cathedral  contains  : — 

Right  Aisle,  "^rd  Altar.  The  Risen  Saviour  between  the  Baptist 
and  S.  John  the  Evangelist. 

"  Behind  the  Baptist  there  kneels  an  elderly  man  with  an  expression 
of  mild  piety,  according  to  the  inscription  described  as  Camillus 
Verardus,  eques  Pontificius.  The  hands  of  the  kneeling  figure  are 
designed  with  admirable  life.  The  style  of  the  entire  work  is,  it  is  true, 
affected  by  the  naturalism  which  marked  the  entire  fifteenth  century, 
but  it  is  softened  by  a  decided  sense  of  the  beautiful.  The  drapery, 
with  its  delicate  folds,  is  treated  as  a  thin  material  which  clings  to  the 
body  almost  transparently,  as  though  it  had  been  put  on  wet.  Altogether 
all  the  figures  display  in  their  attitude  and  action,  and  in  their  type  of 
countenance  and  expression,  the  general  character  common  to  the 
Lombardic  School,  but  the  execution  is  unusually  tender  and  perfect  in 
the  smallest  detail  ;  the  hands  are  full  of  life,  the  hair  displays  masterly 
freedom,^  and  S.  John  the  Evangelist  especially  is  among  the  most 
beautiful  inspirations  of  the  period." — Liibke,  History  of  Sculpture. 

Left  Aisle,  1st  Altar.  A  relief  by  Alfonso  Lombardi  da  Ferrara, 
1488-1537. 

"In  the  centre  is  S.  Leonardo  in  a  monk's  cowl,  which  falls  down  in 
large  simply  arranged  masses,  and  holding  a  chain  with  which  he  is 
raising  his  right  hand.  A  thick  curling  beard  encircles  the  beautiful 
head.  To  the  left  is  S.  Christopher,  with  the  lovely  Infant  Christ,  who 
is  playing  with  his  full  beard.  He  is  represented  in  an  advancing 
attitude,  the  short  light  garment  leaving  the  powerful  and  beautifully 
formed  thigh  almost  free  ;  his  hand  is  resting  on  the  rude  stem  of  a  tree. 
On  the  right  is  S.  Eustachius  in  the  attire  of  a  Roman  warrior,  rather 
indicated  than  fully  detailed ;  the  upper  part  of  the  figure  is  bare  and 
the  arras  are  naked,  and  the  mantle  has  fallen  down  over  the  shoulders 
in  rather  elegant  than  grand  folds.  The  head  is  charming  in  its  youth- 
ful splendour,  and  is  surrounded  with  long  curls  ;  in  fonii  and  expres- 
sion it  calls  to  mind  the  splendid  heads  of  Sodoma,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  exquisite  creations  of  this  golden  age.  The  artist  of  these  three 
figures  still  adheres  in  the  fine  and  careful  treatment  of  the  drapery, 
which  affords  an  effective  contrast  to  the  simple  monkish  habit  of  S. 
Leonardo,  to  the  tradition  of  the  fifteenth  century  ;  but  the  figures  in 
their  vigorous  organization,  mature  and  beautiful  forms,  and  perfect 
understanding  of  structure,  give  the  impression  of  an  art  which  had 
arrived  at  the  height  of  perfection.  The  head  of  S.  Eustachius  is  equal 
to  the  finest  works  of  Andrea  Sansovino." — Lubke. 

On  a  hill  a  short  distance  from  the  town  are  the  Benedic- 


RIMINI.  365 

tine  Church  and  Convent  of  the  Madonnd  del  Monte^  where 
Pius  VII.  ("  Padre  Chiaramonte  ")  was  a  monk. 

Savigtiano  (Stat.).  The  birth-place  of  the  Archaologist 
Borghese,  1781.  Soon  after  leaving  this,  the  blue  over- 
hanging mountain  of  San  Marino  comes  in  sight  upon  the 
right.  It  is  just  such  a  mountain  as  we  see  in  the  back- 
grounds of  Palmezzani  and  other  painters. 

Sanf  Angela  in  Vado  (Stat.).  The  birth-place  of  Pope 
Clement  XIV.  (Lorenzo  Ganganelli),  1705. 

Rimini  (Stat).  Itms.  Tre  Re,  close  to  the  station,  a  most 
comfortable  small  Italian  Inn  ;  Aquila  d'Oro,  in  the  town, 
very  inferior. 

By  those  who  are  not  in  a  hurry,  or  wish  to  rest,  Rimini  is 
a  most  pleasant  place  to  stay  at  for  a  few  days,  and  the  air 
is  delicious  and  invigorating. 

"The  name  of  Rimini  will  to  most  minds  first  suggest  the  most 
pathetic  passage  in  the  whole  range  of  the  Inferno  of  Dante  ;  but, 
whether  as  classic  Ariminum  or  as  mediaeval  Rimini,  the  city  has  far 
higher  historic  claims  to  notice  than  to  have  been  the  birth-place  of  the 
erring  Francesca.  The  first  strictly  Italian  city  where  Csesar  appeared 
in  arms  after  crossing  the  borders  of  his  own  province,  the  city  which 
was  the  scene  of  the  Council  after  which  the  world  was  said  to  have 
mourned  and  wondered  to  find  itself  Arian,  certainly  stands  out  in 
historic  importance  above  its  neighbours.  Its  later  tyrants,  too,  of  the 
House  of  Malatesta  bear  a  more  famous  name  than  most  of  their  neigh- 
bours, whom  we  chiefly  remember,  if  we  remember  them  at  all,  as  fall- 
ing into  the  common  gulf  of  ecclesiastical  dominion,  either  in  the  days 
of  Borgia  or  in  the  earlier  days  when  Robert  of  Geneva,  the  future 
anti-pope,  wrought  the  great  slaughter  of  Cesena.  In  the  Forum  of 
Ariminum  we  may  see  the  stone  which  marks  the  spot  where,  according 
to  local  belief,  Ceesar  addressed  his  soldiers  ;  but  the  inscription  speaks 
of  the  oration  as  having  been  made  'superato  Rubicone,' — a  phrase 
which  savours  rather  of  the  rhetoric  of  Lucan  than  of  the  simple  narra- 
tive of  the  great  rebel  himself,  who  did  not  think  the  crossing  of  a  border 
streamlet  worth  recording.  The  momentary  triumph  of  Arianism  at 
Ariminum  has  left  its  memory  in  the  name  of  the  neighbouring  La 


366  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Cattolica,  a  spot  which  legend  points  out  as  the  place  of  dwelling  or 
shelter  of  the  Orthodox  minority  in  the  famous  Synod.  In  the  general 
course  of  events  there  may  seem  to  be  a  certain  kind  of  propriety  in  the 
formal  promulgation  of  the  heretical  faith  in  this  particular  district,  as  a 
kind  of  foreshadowing  of  the  coming  rule  of  the  Arian  Goth  in  not  far 
distant  Ravenna.  As  for  the  tyrants,  one  at  least  among  them  has 
taken  care  that  neither  himself  nor  his  wife  shall  be  forgotten  by  any 
visitor  to  Rimini.  Sigismund  and  Isotta  appear  on  church  and  fortress 
as  the  chief  late  adorners  of  the  city  ;  and  in  the  nomenclature  of  the 
modem  streets,  while  the  Dictator  himself  claims  the  great  square  of 
the  modem  Forum,  many  and  earlier  portions  of  the  city  bear  the  names 
of  the  most  famous  of  the  House  of  Malatesta." — Freeman. 

"No  one  with  any  tincture  of  literary  knowledge  is  ignorant  of  the 
fame  at  least  of  the  great  Malatesta  family — the  house  of  the  Wrong- 
heads,  as  they  were  rightly  called  by  some  prevision  of  their  future  part 
in  Lombard  history.  The  readers  of  the  twenty-seventh  and  twenty- 
eighth  cantos  of  the  'Inferno'  have  all  heard  of 

'  E  il  mastin  vecchio  e  il  nuovo  da  Vemcchio 
Che  fecer  di  Montagna  il  mal  govemo,' 

while  the  story  of  Francesca  da  Polenta,  who  was  wedded  to  the  hunch- 
back Giovanni  Malatesta  and  murdered  by  him  with  her  lover  Paolo,  is 
known  not  merely  to  students  of  Dante,  but  to  readers  of  Byron  and 
Leigh  Hunt,  to  admirers  of  Flaxman,  Ary  Scheffer,  Dore — to  all,  in 
fact,  who  have  of  art  and  letters  any  love. 

"The  history  of  these  Malatesti,  from  their  first  establishment  under 
Otho  III.  as  lieutenant  for  the  Empire  in  the  Marches  of  Ancona,  down 
to  their  final  subjugation  by  the  Papacy  in  the  age  of  the  Renaissance, 
is  made  up  of  all  the  vicissitudes  which  could  befall  a  mediaeval  Italian 
despotism.  Acquiring  an  unlawful  right  over  the  towns  of  Rimini, 
Cesena,  Sogliano,  Ghiacciuolo,  they  mled  their  petty  principalities  like 
tyrants  by  the  help  of  the  Guelf  and  Ghibelline  factions,  inclining  to 
the  one  or  the  other  as  it  suitetl  their  humour  or  their  interest ;  wrang- 
ling among  themselves,  transmitting  the  succession  of  their  dynasty 
through  bastards  or  by  deeds  of  force,  quarrelling  with  their  neighbours 
the  Counts  of  Urbino,  alternately  defying  and  submitting  to  the  Papal 
legates  in  Romagna,  serving  as  condottiere  in  the  wars  of  the  Visconti 
and  the  State  of  Venice,  and  by  their  restlessness  and  genius  for  military 
intrigues  contributing  in  no  slight  measure  to  the  general  disturbance  of 
Italy.  The  Malatesti  were  a  race  of  strongly-marked  character  :  more, 
perhaps,  than  any  other  house  of  Italian  tyrants,  they  combined  for 
generations  those  qualities  of  the  fox  and  the  lion,  which  Machiavelli 


S.  FRANCESCO  OF  RIMINI.  367 

thought  indispensable  to  a  successful  despot.  Their  power,  based  on 
force,  was  maintained  by  craft  and  crime,  and  transmitted  through 
tortuous  channels  by  intrigue,  and  while  false  in  their  dealings  with  the 
world  at  large,  they  were  diabolical  in  the  perfidy  with  which  they 
treated  one  another. 

"As  far  as  Rimini  is  concerned,  the  house  of  Malatesta  culminated  in 
Sigismondo  Pandolfo,  son  of  Gian  Galeazzo  Visconti's  general,  the 
perfidious  Pandolfo.  It  was  he  who  built  the  Rocca  and  re-modelled 
the  Cathedral.  He  was  one  of  the  strangest  products  of  the  earlier 
Renaissance.  To  enumerate  the  crimes  which  he  committed  within  the 
sphere  of  his  own  family,  would  violate  the  decencies  of  literature.  It 
is  enough  to  mention  that  he  murdered  three  wives  in  succession, 
Bussoni  di  Carmagnuola,  Guinipera  d'Este,  and  Polixena  Sforza." — 
y.  A.  Symonds. 

The  broad  road  from  the  station  leads  to  the  gate  of  the 
town,  beyond  which  it  becomes  Via  Principe  Umberto. 
Hence,  on  the  left,  the  Via  al  Tempio  Malatestiano  leads 
to  the  famous  Church  of  S.  Francesco,  generally  called 
Teynpio  dei  Malatesti,  a  Gothic  church  entirely  transmogrified 
by  Alberti. 

"  By  introducing  the  joint  initials  of  Sigismund  Pandolfo  and  his  mis- 
tress Isotta  degli  Atti  into  the  ornamentation  of  the  building,  by  inscrib- 
ing Sigismund's  name  upon  the  fa9ade,  and  by  placing  sarcophagi  in 
which  the  eminent  men  of  the  court  of  Rimini  were  buried,  under  the 
arches  upon  the  side  of  the  building,  Alberti  made  it  a  great  mausoleum 
to  the  memory  of  Sigismund  and  his  friends,  and  much  more  like  a 
Pagan  temple  than  a  Christian  church.  Nor  is  this  illusion  dispelled  by 
the  interior,  which  with  its  heathen  emblems,  its  deification  of  Sigismund 
and  Isotta  in  the  statues  of  SS.  Sigismund  and  Michael,  its  medallions, 
bas-reliefs,  and  inscriptions  in  Latin  and  Greek,  has  so  heathen  an  aspect 
that  we  involuntarily  look  towards  the  altar  for  a  train  of  chaplet-crowned 
priests  and  augurs,  about  to  offer  a  milk-white  heifer  in  sacrifice  to  the 
god  and  goddess  of  Rimini. 

"  The  woman  who  shares  this  homage  with  Sigismund,  as  she  shared 
his  life,  was  the  daughter  of  Francesco  di  Atto  of  the  noble  family  of  the 
Atti ;  her  '  liaison '  with  Sigismund  Pandolfo  commenced  during  the  life- 
time of  his  second  wife  Polixena,  daughter  of  Francesco  Sforza,  whom 
he  is  said  to  have  strangled.  The  Neapolitan  poet  Porcellio,  who  lived 
at  the  court  of  Rimini,  states  that  Isotta's  father  strongly  condemned  her 


368  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

conduct,  and  makes  this  the  argument  of  three  Elegiac  Epistles,  one  o  f 
which  (feignedly  written  by  Isotta),  pleads  the  irresistible  power  of  love  as 
an  excuse  for  her  fault,  and  the  other  (put  into  her  father's  mouth)  re- 
plies, that  the  love  which  has  subdued  her  is  a  false  god,  and  that  duty 
demands  of  her  to  leave  her  lover,  and  conduct  herself  henceforth  like  a 
virtuous  woman. 

"This  account  conflicts  with  Tito  Strozzi's  statement  that  Francesco  di 
Atto,  Isotta's  father,  was  Sigismund's  faithful  friend  and  councillor,  and 
can  only  be  made  to  agree  with  it  if  we  believe,  that  the  lovers  were 
married  after  the  death  of  Polixena  Sforza,  and  that  Isotta's  father  was 
reconciled  to  her.  Besides  these  two  elegies,  other  '  Isottaei '  are  to  be 
found  in  a  rare  book  of  poems,  treating  of  the  imaginary  love  of  Jupiter 
for  Isotta,  which  she  repulses  on  account  of  her  passion  for  Sigismund, 
and  exalting  her  as  more  beautiful  than  Tyndaris,  a  better  poetess  than 
Sappho,  and  more  constant  than  Penelope. 

"She  was  really  but  moderately  handsome,  judging  from  models,  busts, 
and  pictures,  was  clever  as  a  writer  of  Latin  verses,  learned  in  physics 
and  moral  philosophy,  and,  as  far  as  we  know,  constant  to  one  lover. 
Through  her  influence,  Sigismund  was  led  to  repent  of  his  sins  and  to 
expiate  by  benefits  and  kind  actions  the  injuries  which  he  had  formerly 
inflicted  upon  so  many  of  his  subjects  ;  and  so  great  was  his  confidence 
in  her  judgment  and  experience,  that  at  his  death  he  left  her  joint  ruler 
of  Rimini  with  his  natural  son  Sallustio.  Fearful,  however,  that  the 
Romish  Church  would  seize  upon  her  dominions  on  the  plea  of  Sallus- 
tio's  never  having  been  legitimatized,  she  called  Roberto,  another  illegi- 
timate son  of  her  husband,  to  a  share  in  the  government,  who,  being  am- 
bitious and  wicked,  caused  Sallustio  to  be  assassinated,  and  is  said  to 
have  assisted  by  poison  the  progress  of  a  slow  fever,  which  attacked 
Isotta  in  1470,  and  quickly  carried  her  to  the  grave." — Perkins'  Tuscan 
Sculptors. 

The  incompleteness  of  the  Interior,  and  its  barn-like  roof, 
prevent  S.  Francesco  from  being  beautiful,  but  the  rich 
adornment  of  its  chapels  is  deserving  of  careful  examination. 
On  the  right  of  the  entrance  is  the  tomb  of  Sigismondo  him- 
self, ob.  1468,  the  simplest  in  the  family  Mausoleum. 

Right.  The  1st  Chapel,  of  S.  Sigismund,  has  his  statue  over  the  altar. 
The  beautiful  pillars  of  the  arch  are  supported  by  elephants,  the  Male- 
testa  crest.  The  statues  are  by  Ciuffagni.  The  low  reliefs  of  angels  on 
the  inner  wall  are  by  Simone  da  Firenze,  whose  works  resemble  those  of 


S.  FRANCESCO  OF  RIMINI.  369 

Donatello.  The  altar-piece,  of  the  Holy  Family,  is  by  Luca  Longhi  da 
Ravenna. 
*The  2nd  Chapel  (of  the  Relics)  contains  a  most  beautiful  fresco  by 
Piero  della  Francesca,  representing  Sigismondo  kneeling  at  the  feet  of 
his  patron  saint,  S.  Sigismund,  king  of  Hungary.  Behind  him,  are  his 
favourite  grey-hounds,  and  the  castle  which  he  built  at  Rimini  is  intro- 
duced.    The  fresco  is  signed  "  Pietri  de  Burgo  opus,  1481." 

The  ird  Chapel  is  especially  devoted  to  Isotta.  Here,  raised  high 
against  the  wall,  supported  by  elephants,  is  her  sarcophagus,  and  over 
the  altar  is  her  statue  as  S.  Michael  vanquishing  the  Devil !  One  of 
the  shields  which  are  held  by  the  angels  on  the  screen,  bears  the  por- 
traits of  the  three  Malatesta  brothers,  Sigismondo,  Paolo,  and  Lanciano. 
The  low  reliefs  by  Simone  in  this  and  the  opposite  chapel  on  a  blue 
ground,  look  like  works  of  Luca  della  Robbia,  but  are  certainly  not  by 
him. 

Left.  The  \st  Chapel  (spoilt  by  modem  gilding)  has  a  magnificent 
sarcophagus  containing  the  remains  of  the  "  Famiglia  Malatesta."  It  is 
adorned  with  reliefs  by  Ghiberti.  The  beautiful  statuettes  of  the  Sibyls 
on  the  pillars  are  by  Simone. 

"This  church  is  the  chief  monument  of  Sigismondo's  fame.  It  is 
here  that  all  the  Malatesti  lie.  Here  too  is  the  chapel  dedicated  to 
Isotta, — '  Divae  Isotta;  Sacrum  ; '  and  the  tomb  of  the  Malatesta  ladies, 
'  Malatestorum  domus  heroidum  sepulchrum;'  and  Sigismondo's  own 
grave  with  the  cuckold's  horns  and  the  scornful  epitaph — 

*  Porto  le  coma  ch'  ognuno  le  vede, 
E  tal  le  porta  che  non  se  le  crede.' 

Nothing  but  the  fact  that  the  church  is  duly  dedicated  to  S.  Francis,  and 
that  its  outer  shell  of  classic  marble  encases  an  old  Gothic  edifice,  remains 
to  remind  us  that  it  is  a  Christian  place  of  worship.  *  It  has  no  sanctity, 
no  spirit  of  piety.  The  pride  of  the  tyrant  whose  legend — '  Sigismundus 
Pandulphus  Malatesta  Pan  F.  Fecit  Anno  Gratise  mcccl  ' —  occupies 
every  arch  and  string-course  of  the  architecture  and  whose  coat-of-arms 
and  portrait  in  medallion,  with  his  cipher  and  his  emblems  of  an  elephant 
and  a  rose,  are  wrought  in  every  piece  of  sculptured  work  throughout 
the  building,  seems  so  to  fill  this  house  of  prayer  that  there  is  no  room 
left  for  God.  Yet  the  cathedral  of  Rimini  remains  a  monument  of 
first-rate  importance  for  all  students  who  seek  to  penetrate  the  revived 
Paganism  of  the  fifteenth  century.      It  serves  also  to  bring  a  far  more 

•  The  account  of  this  church  given  by  iEneas  Sylvius  Piccolomini  (Pii  Secundi  Com- 
ment, ii.  92)  deserves  quotation  :  "  TEdificavit  tamen  nobile  templum  Arimini  in  hono- 
rem  divi  Francisci,  verum  ita  gentilibus  operibus  implevit,  ut  non  tarn  Christianorum 
quam  infidelium  daemones  adorantium  templum  esse  videatur." 
VOL.    II.  24 


370  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

interesting  Italian  of  that  penod  than  the  tyrant  of  Rimini  himself,  before 
our  notice.  For  in  the  execution  of  his  design,  Sigismondo  received  the 
assistance  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  this  or  any  other  age, 

Leo  Battista  Alberti All   that  Alberti  could  do  was  to-  alter 

the  whole  exterior  of  the  church,  by  affixing  a  screen-work  of  Roman 
arches  and  Corinthian  pilasters,  so  as  to  hide  the  old  design  and  yet 
leave  the  main  features  of  the  fabric,  the  windows  and  doors  especially, 
in  statu  quo.  With  the  interior  he  dealt  upon  the  same  general  prin- 
ciple, by  not  disturbing  its  structure,  while  he  covered  every  availalile 
square  inch  of  surface  with  decorations  alien  to  the  Gothic  manner. 
Externally,  San  Francesco  is  perhaps  the  most  original  and  grace- 
ful of  the  many  attempts  made  by  classic  builders  to  fuse  the  medi- 
aeval and  the  classic  styles.  For  Alberti  attempted  nothing  less. 
Internally,  the  beauty  of  the  church  is  wholly  due  to  its  exquisite 
wall-ornaments.  They  consist  for  the  most  part  of  low  reliefs 
in  a  soft  white  stone,  many  of  them  thrown  out  by  a  blue  ground 
in  the  style  of  Delia  Robbia.  Allegorical  figures  designed  with  the 
purity  of  outline  we  admire  in  Botticelli,  draperies  that  Bume  Jones 
might  copy,  troops  of  singing  boys  in  the  manner  of  Donatello,  great 
angels  traced  upon  the  stone  so  delicately  that  they  seem  to  be  rather 
drawn  than  sculptured,  statuettes  in  niches,  personifications  of  all  arts 
and  sciences  alternately  with  half-bestial  shapes  of  satyrs  and  sea-chil- 
dren : — such  are  the  forms  that  fill  the  spaces  of  the  chapel  walls,  and 
climb  the  pilasters,  and  fret  the  arches,  in  such  abundance  that  had  the 
whole  church  been  finished  as  it  was  designed,  it  would  have  pre- 
sented one  splendid  though  bizarre  effect  of  incrustration.  Heavy 
screens  of  Verona  marble,  emblazoned  in  open  arabesques  with  the 
ciphers  of  Sigismondo  and  Isotta,  with  coats-of-arms,  emblems,  and 
medallion-portraits,  shut  the  chapels  from  the  nave.  Whatever  be 
the  merits  of  the  reliefs,  tliere  is  no  doubt  that  they  fairly  repre- 
sent one  of  the  most  interesting  moments  in  the  history  of  modem  art. 
Gothic  inspiration  had  failed  ;  the  early  Tuscan  school  of  the  Pisani 
had  been  worked  out ;  Michael  Angelo  was  yet  far  distant,  and  the 
abundance  of  classic  models  had  not  overwhelmed  originality.  The 
sculptors  of  the  school  of  Ghiberti  and  Donatello,  who  are  represented 
in  this  church,  were  essentially  pictorial,  preferring  low  to  high  relief, 
and  relief  in  general  to  detached  figures.  Their  style,  like  the  style  of 
Boiardo  in  poetry,  of  Botticelli  in  painting,  is  specific  to  Italy  in  the 
middle  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Mediaeval  standards  of  taste  were  giving 
way  to  classical.  Christian  sentiment  to  Pagan  ;  yet  the  imitation  of  the 
antique  had  not  lieen  carried  so  far  as  to  efface  the  spontaneity  of  the 
artist,  and  enough  remained  of  Christian  feeling  to  tinge  the  fancy  with 
a  grave  and  sweet  romance.     The  sculptor  had  the  skill  and  mastery  to 


PIAZZA  GIULIO  CESAR E.  271 

express  his  slightest  shade  of  thought  with  freedom,  spirit,  and  precision. 
Yet  his  work  showed  no  sign  of  conventionality,  no  adherence  to  pre- 
scribed rules.  Every  outline,  every  fold  of  drapery,  every  attitude,  was 
pregnant,  to  the  artist's  own  mind  at  any  rate,  with  meaning.  In  spite 
of  its  symbolism,  what  he  wrought  was  never  mechanically  figurative, 
but  gifted  with  the  independence  of  its  own  beauty,  vital  with  an  in- 
breathed spirit  of  life.  Tt  was  a  happy  moment,  when  art  had  reached 
consciousness,  and  the  artist  had  not  yet  become  self-conscious.  The 
hand  and  the  brain  then  really  worked  together  for  the  procreation  of 
new  forms  of  grace,  not  for  the  repetition  of  old  models,  or  for  the  in- 
vention of  the  strange  and  startling.  '  Delicate,  sweet,  and  captivating ' 
are  good  adjectives  to  express  the  effect  produced  upon  the  mind 
by  the  contemplation  even  of  the  average  work  of  this  period.  To 
study  the  flowing  lines  of  the  great  angels  traced  upon  the  walls 
of  the  Chapel  of  Saint  Sigismund  in  the  Cathedral  of  Rimini,  to 
follow  the  undulations  of  their  drapery  that  seems  to  float,  to  feel  the 
dignified  urbanity  of  all  their  gestures,  is  like  listening  to  one  of  those 
clear  early  compositions  for  the  voice,  which  surpasses  in  suavity  of  tone 
and  grace  of  movement  all  that  Music  in  her  full-grown  vigour  has  pro- 
duced. There  is  indeed  something  infinitely  charming  in  the  crepuscu- 
lar movements  of  the  human  mind.  Whether  it  be  the  rath  loveliness 
of  an  art  still  immature,  or  the  wan  beauty  of  art  upon  the  wane — 
whether,  in  fact,  the  twilight  be  of  morning  or  of  evening,  we  find  in  the 
masterpieces  of  such  periods  a  placid  calm  and  chastened  pathos,  as  of 
a  spirit  self-withdrawn  from  vulgar  cares,  which  in  the  full  light  of 
meridian  splendour  is  lacking.  In  the  Church  of  San  Francesco  al 
Rimini  the  tempered  clearness  of  the  dawn  is  just  about  to  broaden  into 
day." — y.  A.  Symonds. 

From  the  piazza  in  front  of  S.  Francesco,  the  Via  Patara 
leads  to  the  Piazza  Giulio  Cesare,  which  was  the  ancient 
forum.  Here  is  a  stone  on  which  an  inscription  of  1855  tells 
that  from  thence  Caesar  harangued  his  troops  after  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Rubicon — 

"  Constitit  ut  capto  jussus  deponere  miles 

Signa  foro,  stridor  lituum,  clangorque  tubarum 
Non  pia  concinuit  cum  rauco  classica  cornu. 
Rupta  quies  populis,  stratisque  excita  juventus 
Diripiunt  sacris  afiixa  penatibus  arma. 
Ut  notK  fulsere  aquilae,  Romanaque  signa, 


37*  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Et  celsus  medio  conspectus  in  agmine  Caesar, 
Diriguere  metu,  gelidos  pavor  occupat  artus." 

Lucan,  i.  236. 

Near  this  is  a  Chapel  on  the  spot  where  S.  Anthony  of 
Padua  preached  to  the  inattentive  inhabitants  of  Rimini. 
Another  Chapel,  on  the  canal,  commemorates  his  sermon  to 
a  more  deserving  congregation. 

"  S.  Anthony  being  come  to  the  city  of  Rimini,  where  there  were  many 
heretics  and  unbelievers,  preached  to  them  repentance  and  a  new  life  ; 
but  they  stopped  their  ears,  and  refused  to  listen  to  him.  Whereupon  he 
repaired  to  the  shore  and  stretching  forth  his  hand,  he  said,  '  Hear  mc, 
ye  fishes,  for  these  unbelievers  refuse  to  listen ! '  and,  truly,  it  was  a 
marvellous  thing  to  see  how  an  infinite  number  of  fishes,  great  and  little, 
lifted  their  heads  above  water,  and  listened  attentively  to  the  sermon  of 
the  saint." — Legend  of  S.  Anthony. 

Addison  gives  a  translation  of  the  Sermon  of  S,  Anthony 
to  the  Fishes,  as  sold  at  Rimini  and  Padua.  It  is  perhaps 
worth  extracting : — 

"Do  you  think  that,  without  a  mystery,  the  first  present  that 
God  Almighty  made  to  man  was  of  you,  O  ye  fishes  ?  Do  you  think 
that,  without  a  mystery,  among  all  creatures  and  animals  which  were 
appointed  for  sacrifices,  you  only  were  excepted,  O  ye  fishes  ?  Do  you 
think  there  was  nothing  meant  by  our  Saviour  Christ,  that  next  to  the 
paschal  lamb  he  took  so  much  pleasure  in  the  food  of  you,  O  ye  fishes  ? 
Do  you  think  it  was  by  mere  chance,  that,  when  the  Redeemer  of  the 
world  was  to  pay  a  tribute  to  Caesar,  he  thought  fit  to  find  it  in  the 
mouth  of  a  fish  ?  These  are  all  of  them  so  many  mysteries  and  sacra- 
ments, that  oblige  you  in  a  more  particular  manner  to  the  praises  of  your 
Creator. 

"In  what  dreadful  majesty,  in  what  wonderful  power,  in  what  amaz- 
ing providence,  did  God  Almighty  distinguish  you  among  all  the  species 
of  creatures  that  perished  in  the  universal  deluge  !  you  only  were  in- 
sensible of  the  mischief  that  laid  waste  the  whole  world. 

' '  All  this  as  I  have  already  told  you,  ought  to  inspire  you  with  gratitude 
and  praise  towards  the  Divine  Majesty,  that  has  done  so  great  things  for 
you,  granted  you  such  particular  graces  and  privileges,  and  heaped  upon 
you  so  many  distinguished  favours.    And  since  for  all  this  you  cannot  em- 


ARCH  OF  AUGUSTUS.  373 

ploy  your  tongues  in  the  praises  of  your  Benefactor,  and  are  not  provided 
with  words  to  express  your  gratitude  ;  make  at  least  some  sign  of  rever- 
ence ;  bow  yourselves  at  His  name  ;  give  some  sign  of  gratitude,  accord- 
ing to  the  best  of  your  capacities  ;  express  your  thanks  in  the  most  be- 
coming manner  you  are  able,  and  be  not  unmindful  of  all  the  benefits 
He  has  bestowed  upon  you." 

And,  says  the  authorized  Life  of  the  Saint : — 

"  He  had  no  sooner  done  speaking,  but,  behold  a  miracle  !  the  fish, 
as  though  they  had  been  endued  with  reason,  bowed  down  their  heads 
with  all  the  marks  of  a  profound  humility  and  devotion,  moving  their 
bodies  up  and  down  with  a  kind  of  fondness,  as  approving  w^hat  had 
been  spoken  by  the  blessed  father,  Antonio. " 

The  Corso  d'Aiigusto  which  runs  through  the  Piazza 
Giulio  Cesare,  leads  to  the  fine  old  Arch  of  Augustus,  called 
the  Porta  Rotnana. 

' '  Spanning  the  street  as  it  now  does,  it  needs  a  slight  effort  to  keep 
in  mind  that  it  is  not  the  gate  of  the  city,  but  simply  a  commemorative 
arch,  which,  like  all  others  of  its  class,  was  in  its  original  object  simply 
commemorative,  which  served  no  practical  purpose,  and  never  fulfilled 
the  purpose  of  a  gateway  by  being  furnished  with  a  gate.  Later  ages, 
however,  turned  the  arch  of  Rimini,  as  they  turned  the  arches  of  Rome, 
to  their  own  purpose,  and  a  mass  of  brickwork  on  each  side  and  above 
the  arch,  crowned  with  a  double  row  of  the  so-called  Scala  battlement, 
shows  that  the  arch  raised  in  the  seventh  consulship  of  Augustus  to 
commemorate  no  warlike  triumph,  but  the  peaceful  work  of  mending 
the  roads,  was  found  convenient  for  the  purposes  of  a  fortress.  The 
arch  itself  takes  up  nearly  the  whole  width  of  the  building,  leaving  room 
only  for  a  single  Corinthian  column  on  each  side.  It  exhibits  the  usual 
faults  of  Roman  architecture  in  columns  which  support  nothing  except 
the  projecting  bits  of  entablature  upon  them,  and  in  a  sham  pediment 
which  not  only  ends  no  real  roof,  but  does  not  even  pretend  to  rest  upon 
the  columns.  . .  .  Still  the  arch  of  Rimini  is  a  simple,  stately,  and  noble 
structure,  all  the  better  for  standing  out  boldly  in  the  simple  dignity  of 
its  main  architectural  features,  the  arch  itself  and  its  attendant  columns, 
and  not  being  overloaded  with  sculpture  or  with  exaggerated  detail  of 
any  kind." — Freeman. 

The  Fortifications  of  Paul  V.  are  still  very  complete,  and 


374 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


there  is  a  delightful  walk  along  them  to  the  left  with  charm- 
ing views  of  mountains  and  sea.  Here  (reached  from  the 
Corso  by  the  Via  del  Anfiteatro)  are  some  obscure  and 
quite  indefinable  remains  of  a  Roman  Amphitheatre. 


•L^lmA^JtI 


Arch  of  Augustus,  Rimini. 


In  returning  from  the  Porta  Romana,  the  first  street  on 
the  left  leads  to  the  Church  of  S.  Chiara,  which  contains  a 
modern  picture  of  the  Virgin,  greatly  esteemed  here  as 
miraculous,  and  liable  to  wink  its  eyes.  It  is  a  beautiful 
picture,  delicately  and  softly  painted.  It  may  be  examined 
all  round,  yet,  when  the  candles  beneath  it  are  lighted,  its 
eyes  certainly  do  seem  to  move.  It  is  an  illusion  of  paint- 
ing, like  that  of  many  old  family-pictures  in  England,  whose 
eyes,  without  any  intention  of  the  artist,  follow  you  round 
the  room. 
'    On  the  left  of  the  Corso  is  the  Piazza  Cavour,  ornamented 


BRIDGE  OF  AUGUSTUS.  375 

with  a  bronze  statue  of  Paul  V.     Here  is  the  Palazzo  del 
Cotnune,  containing  : — 

Doni.  Ghirlandajo.  A  most  beautiful  altar-piece,  representing  S. 
Domenic  between  S.  Sebastian  and  other  saints,  with  a  very 
interesting  predella  of  events  in  the  life  of  the  saint. 

Giov.  Bellini,  1470.     A  Pieta. 

"  Early  and  severe." — Burckhardt. 

From  hence  opens  the  Via  Gambalunga,  where  there  is  a 
fine  Library  of  30,000  vols.,  founded  by  the  Jurist  Count 
Gambalunga  in  1617.  Behind  the  Theatre  is  the  quaint, 
but  much-altered,  Castle  of  the  Malatesti,  now  used  as  a 
prison.  The  Palazzo  Ruffo  (now  Cisterna)  is  pointed  out  as 
the  home  of  the  ill-fated  Francesca  da  Rimini,  whose  story, 
as  narrated  by  herself  in  the  Inferno,  is  told  by  Dante,  and 
translated  by  Byron — 

"  We  read  one  day  for  pastime  seated  nigh. 

Of  Lancilot,  how  love  enchain'd  him  too. 

We  were  alone,  quite  unsuspiciously. 
But  oft  our  eyes  met,  and  our  cheeks  in  hue 

All  o'er  discolour'd  by  that  reading  were  ; 

Bat  one  point  only  wholly  us  o'erthrew  ; 
When  we  read  the  long-sigh'd  for  smile  of  her, 

To  be  thus  kiss'd  by  such  devoted  lover. 

He  who  from  me  can  be  divided  ne'er 
Kiss'd  my  mouth,  trembling  in  the  act  all  over. 

Accursed  was  the  book  and  he  who  wrote  ! 

That  day  no  farther  leaf  we  did  uncover. " 

At  the  lower  end  of  the  Corso  is  the  five-arched  Bridge 
of  Augustus. 

"  The  bridge  of  Rimini  is  striking  in  its  grand  simplicity  ;  in  a 
structure  of  that  kind  there  was  hardly  any  scope  for  the  ever-recurring 
fault  of  Roman  architecture,  the  masking  of  a  body  built  according  to 
the  native  Italian  arched  construction  with  a  veil  borrowed  from  the 
entablature  system  of  the  Greeks.  The  stream  is  spanned  by  bold  and 
simple  arches  of  the  best  Roman  masonry,  but  with  little  attempt  at 


376 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


ornament,  and  to  more  than  one  of  the  piers  it  has  been  thought  need- 
ful at  some  later  time  to  add  buttresses  of  brickwork,  to  which  a  mediaeval 
architect  might  perhaps  point  with  some  triumph  as  a  sign  that  his 
system  of  construction  was  after  all  better  than  that  of  the  ancient 
engineers.  The  inscription  on  the  bridge  is  not  quite  perfect ;  but  it  is 
striking,  when  crossing  a  thickly-crowded  thoroughfare  between  two 
parts  of  a  modern  city,  to  light  on  letters  still  plainly  commemorating 
the  name  and  offices  of  Augustus  and  his  stepsons." — Freeman. 


Bridge  of  RiniinL 


Outside  the  town  is  the  Church  of  S.  Giuliano,  the  patron 
of  Rimini,*  a  Greek  martyr,  whose  cruel  martyrdom  is 
described  at  length  by  S.  Chrysostom.  In  the  church  are 
pictures  by  Bettino,  1408,  representing  him  as  thrown  into 
the  sea  in  a  sack  full  of  serpents,  and  his  body  guided  to 
the  shore  of  Rimini  by  angels.  There  is  a  picture  of  his 
martyrdom  by  Paul  Veronese. 

There  are  excellent  Sea-baths  at  Rimini.  The  "Stabili- 
mento"  opens  June  28,  after  which  the  place  is  crowded 
with  visitors  from  Rome  and  Bologna ;  but  at  all  times  the 
shore  is  delightful,  and  the  little  port  is  very  picturesque 
from  the  brilliant  sails  of  its  fishing-boats.     It  is  reached  by 

*  United  with  S.  Giuliano  as  patron  is  S.  Gaudenzio,  an  early  bishop  of  Rimini, 
scourged  and  stoned  to  death  by  the  Arians,  Oct.  14,  359.  His  effigy  is  on  the  early 
coinage. 


SAN  MARINO.  377 

a  walk  of  6  min.   down  an  avenue,  from  the  Inn  of  the 
Tre  Re. 

On  the  right  bank  of  the  river  Manecchia,  some  6  m. 
from  the  town,  is  Verruchio,  a  fortress  of  the  Malatestas, 
which  has  perhaps  witnessed  more  dreadful  crimes  than  the 
stronghold  of  any  other  dynasty. 


\ 


No  one  should  leave  Rimini  without  making  an  excursion 
to  San  Marino,  about  13  miles  distant.  A  carriage  thither 
(i.  e.  to  Borgo),  with  i  horse,  costs  20  frs.  for  the  day ;  to 
S.  Marino  and  S.  Leo,  35  frs.  A  baroccino  may  be  had  for 
30  frs.  Both  places  may  be  visited  in  a  day  by  setting  out 
not  later  than  6|  a.m. 

S.  Marino  is  in  some  points  one  of  the  most  curious  places 
in  Italy — indeed,  in  Europe — having  maintained  itself  as  a 
Republic  ever  since  the  earliest  times  of  Christianity.  Its 
foundation  is  ascribed  to  S.  Marinus,  a  converted  stone- 
mason, who,  after  working  for  thirty  years  at  his  trade  at 
Rimini,  fled  to  a  mountain  solitude  to  escape  the  persecution 
under  Diocletian.  Numbers  of  other  Christians  collected 
around  him,  and,  on  the  owner  of  the  rock  on  which  they  dwelt 
giving  it  up  to  Marinus,  he  founded  a  Republic  there.  "  So 
that,"  says  Addi.son,  "the  commonwealth  of  Marino  may 
boast  at  least  of  a  nobler  origin  than  that  of  Rome,  the  one 
having  been  at  first  an  asylum  for  robbers  and  murderers,  the 
other  of  persons  eminent  for  piety  and  devotion."  In  spite 
of  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Malatestas,  San  Marino  main- 
tained its  independence  through  the  Middle  Ages.  It  was 
threatened  by  Cardinal  Alberoni,  Legate  of  the  Roniagna, 
but  successfully  appealed  to  Clement  XII.,  and  in  the 
presence  of  Napoleon  and  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna  it  was 


378  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

defended  by  the  simple  patriotism  of  one  of  its  citizens — 
Antonio  Onofri.  The  RepubHc  contains  about  8000  souls, 
and  extends  over  three  villages — Serravalle,  Faetano,  and 
Monte  Giardino,  besides  the  upper  and  lower  towns  of 
S.  Marino  itself.  Napoleon  wished  to  increase  it,  but  S. 
Marino  wisely  answered  that  it  was  much  obliged,  but  that 
it  had  always  been  small  and  wished  to  remain  small. 

It  is  a  pleasant  drive  from  Rimini  through  a  fruitful  plain. 
On  crossing  a  rivulet  about  10  miles  from  Rimini,  we  enter 
the  Republic.  The  malefactor  who  crosses  the  bridge  over 
this  stream  cannot  be  pursued  and  is  free  for  three  days ; 
after  that,  if  he  remains,  he  is  given  up  to  justice.  The  first 
village  is  Serravalle,  with  its  Caffe  Republicano.  Here 
oxen  must  be  taken,  for  the  steep  winding  road,  with 
fine  views  over  the  sea,  which  ascends  to  Borgj  {Ijin.  Osteria 
Mlnghetti),  the  aristocratic  and  commercial  centre  of  San 


S.  Marino. 


Marino,  where  all  the  richer  inhabitants  reside.  Here  we 
find  the  money  coined  in  the  Republic  (with  its  arms)  in  cir- 
culation. Borgo  stands  just  under  the  perpendicular  cliflfs 
upon  which  the  upper  town  is  built,  and,  in  looking  at  their 


SAN  MARINO. 


379 


Strange  forms,  we  learn  that  the  extraordinary  mountains 
and  rocks  introduced  in  the  backgrounds  of  Raffaelle,  Peru- 
gino,  Melozzo,  and  many  other  early  painters,  were  taken 
from  Nature  and  were  not  night-mares.  Any  one  who  is  un- 
able to  walk  may  see  all  that  is  most  worth  while  by  driving 
to  Borgo.  Hence,  a  very  steep  winding  path  leads  to  the 
rock-built  Citta  {Lin.  Albergo  Bigi),  which  has  its  piazza, 
five  churches,  a  theatre,  and  a  council-chamber  contain- 
ing a  Holy  Family  by  Giulio  Romano.  From  the  castle  on 
the  highest  point  of  the  crags,  there  is  a  magnificent  view 
over  sea  and  land,  and  even  the  coast  of  Dalmatia  is  visible 
in  the  sunrise.  The  town  contains  about  looo  inhabitants. 
Count  Bartolommeo  Borghesi,  the  well-known  archaeologist 


Cistle  of  S.  Marino. 


and  numismatist,  resided  here  for  some  years.     It  is  symbolic 
of  the  primitive  state  of  affairs  still  existing  in  S.  Marino,  that 


38o  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

the  post  never  ascends  the  rock ;  when  it  arrives  a  great  bell 
rings  in  Borgo,  and  any  one  who  wants  his  letters  may  come 
down  and  be  present  at  the  opening  of  the  bag ;  if  he  fails 
to  do  so,  he  must  wait  till  the  next  day. 

"This  petty  Republic  has  lasted  thirteen  (now  fourteen)  hundred 
years,  while  all  the  other  states  of  Italy  have  several  times  changed  their 
masters  and  forms  of  government.  Their  whole  history  is  comprised  in 
two  purchases,  which  they  made  of  a  neighbouring  prince,  and  in  a  war 
in  which  they  asssisted  the  Pope  against  a  Lord  of  Rimini.  In  the  year 
I  loo  they  bought  a  castle  in  the  neighbourhood,  as  they  did  another  in  the 
year  1 170.  The  papers  of  the  conditions  are  preserved  in  their  archives, 
where  it  is  very  remarkable  that  the  name  of  the  agent  for  the  common- 
wealth, of  the  seller,  of  the  notary,  and"  the  witnesses,  are  the  same  in 
both  the-  instruments,  though  drawn  up  at  seventy  years  distance  from 
each  other.  Nor  can  it  be  any  mistake  in  the  date,  because  the  Popes' 
and  Emperors'  names,  with  the  years  of  their  respective  reigns,  are  both 
punctually  set  down.  About  two  hundred  and  ninety  years  after  this, 
they  assisted  Pope  Pius  II.  against  one  of  the  Malatestas,  and  when 
they  had  helped  to  conquer  him,  received  from  the  Pope,  as  a  reward 
for  their  assistance,  four  little  castles.  This  they  represent  as  the 
flourishing  time  of  the  commonwealth,  when  their  dominions  reached 
half-way  up  a  neighbouring  hill  ;  but  at  present  they  are  reduced  to 
to  their  old  extent.  They  would  probably  sell  their  liberty  as  dear  as 
they  could  to  any  that  attacked  them ;  for  there  is  but  one  road  by  which 
to  climb  up  to  them,  and  they  have  a  very  severe  law  against  any  of 
their  own  body  that  enters  the  town  by  another  path,  lest  any  new  one 
should  be  worn  on  the  sides  of  their  mountain.  All  that  are  capable  of 
bearing  arms  are  exercised,  and  ready  at  a  moment's  call. 

"The  sovereign  power  of  the  Republic  was  lodged  originally  in  what 
they  call  the  Arengo,  a  great  council  in  which  every  house  had  its  re- 
presentative. But  because  they  found  too  much  confusion  in  such  a 
multitude  of  statesmen,  they  devolved  their  whole  authority  into  the 
hands  of  a  council  of  sixty.  The  Arengo  however  is  still  called  together 
in  cases  of  extraordinary  importance  ;  and  if,  after  due  summons,  any 
member  absents  himself,  he  is  to  be  fined  to  the  value  of  about  a  penny 
English,  which  the  statute  says  he  shall  pay,  Sine  aliqua  diminutiotie  aut 
gratia.  In  the  ordinary  course  of  government,  the  council  of  sixty 
(which,  notwithstanding  the  name,  consists  but  of  forty  persons)  has  in 
its  hands  the  administration  of  affairs,  and  is  made  up  half  out  of  the 
noble  families,  and  half  out  of  the  plebeian.     They  decide  all  by  balloting, 


SAN  MARINO.  381 

are  not  admitted  until  five-and-twenty  years  old,  and  choose  the  officers 
of  the  commonwealth. 

"Thus  far  they  agree  with  the  great  council  of  Venice;  but  their 
power  is  much  more  extended ;  for  no  sentence  can  stand  that  is  not 
confirmed  by  two-thirds  of  this  council.  Besides  that,  no  son  can  be 
admitted  into  it  during  the  life-time  of  his  father,  nor  two  be  in  it  of  the 
same  family,  nor  any  enter  but  by  election.  The  chief  officers  of  the 
commonwealth  are  the  two  Capitaneos,  who  have  such  a  power  as  the 
old  Roman  consuls  had,  but  are  chosen  every  six  months.  Some  have 
been  Capitaneos  six  or  seven  times,  though  the  office  is  never  to  be 
continued  to  the  same  person  twice  successively.  The  third  officer 
is  the  commissary,  who  judges  in  all  civil  and  criminal  matters.  But 
because  the  many  alliances,  friendships,  and  intermarriages,  as  well 
as  the  personal  feuds  and  animosities,  that  happen  among  so  small  a 
people,  might  obstruct  the  course  of  justice,  if  one  of  their  own  number 
had  the  distribution  of  it,  they  have  always  a  foreigner  for  this  em- 
ploy, whom  they  choose  for  three  years,  and  maintain  out  of  the  public 
stock.  He  must  be  a  doctor  of  law  and  a  man  of  known  integrity. 
He  is  joined  in  commission  with  the  Capitaneos,  and  acts  something 
like  the  Recorder  of  London  under  the  Lord  Mayor.  The  fourth 
man  in  the  State  is  the  physician,  who  must  likewise  be  a  stranger, 
and  is  maintained  by  a  public  salary.  He  is  obliged  to  keep  a  horse, 
to  visit  the  sick,  and  to  inspect  all  the  drugs  that  are  imported.  He 
must  be  at  least  thirty-five  years  old,  a  doctor  of  the  faculty,  and 
eminent  for  his  religion  and  honesty,  that  his  rashness  or  ignor- 
ance may  not  unpeople  the  commonwealth.  That  they  may  not  suffer 
long  under  any  bad  choice,  he  is  elected  only  for  three  years.  Another 
person,  who  makes  no  ordinary  figure  in  the  Republic,  is  the  school- 
master. I  had  the  perusal  of  a  Latin  book  in  folio,  entitled,  Statuta 
Illustrissima  Reipublicce  Sancti  Marini,  printed  at  Rimini  by  order  of  the 
commonwealth.  The  chapter  on  the  public  ministers  says,  that  when 
an  Ambassador  is  despatched  from  the  Republic  to  any  foreign  state, 
he  shall  be  allowed,  out  of  the  treasury,  to  the  value  of  a  shilling 
a  day.  The  people  are  esteemed  very  honest  and  rigorous  in  the 
execution  of  justice,  and  seem  to  live  more  happy  and  contented 
among  their  rocks  and  snows,  than  others  of  the  Italians  do  in  the 
pleasantest  valleys  in  the  world.  Nothing  indeed  can  be  a  greater  in- 
stance of  the  natural  love  that  mankind  has  for  liberty,  and  of  their  aver- 
sion to  arbitrary  government,  than  such  a  savage  mountain  covered  with 
people,  and  the  Campagna  of  Rome  almost  destitute  of  inhabitants." — 
Addison. 

"  A  I'ombre  du  nom  de  son  saint  patron,  protegee  par  son  peu  d'im- 
portance,  San  Marino  a  subsiste  jusqu'k  nous,  et  nous  montre  cette  alii- 


382 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


ance  de  la  religion  et  de  la  liberie  qui  fut  le  caractere  des  communes 
italiennes  au  xiii®  siecle.  Rien  ne  saurait  exprimer  plus  vivement  une 
telle  alliance  que  la  nouvelle  cathedrale  de  Saint  Marin.  Les  sept 
mille  habitants  qui  forment  la  population  de  ce  petit  Etat,  et  qui  payent 
un  impot  annuel  de  quatre  sous  par  tete,  sont  parvenus  a  batir  de  leurs 
economies  une  fort  belle  eglise  qui  a  coute  cent  cinquante  mille  francs, 
lis  ont  place  debout  sur  le  maitre-autel  la  statue  du  saint  national,  et 
dans  ses  mains  un  livre  ouvert  ou  est  ecrit  ce  seul  mot  :  libertas." — 
Ampire. 


From  S.  Marino  a  most  interesting  extension  of  the 
excursion  may  be  made  to —  ? 

San  Leo,  i8  m.  from  Rimini,  about  3  hours  drive  from 
S.  Marino,  on  account  of  the  constant  ascents.  Two  rivers 
have  to  be  forded,  one  of  which  is  dangerous  when  the 


S.  Leo. 


snow  is  melting  on  the  Apennines.  The  whole  scenery  is 
the  burnt  landscape  of  Umbria,  with  the  oddly-shaped 
valleys,  the  strange  knobs  and  pinnacles  of  lime-stone  rock, 
and  the  hill-set  villages,  of  which  the  early  painters  made 


S.  LEO.  383 

SO  much  use.  Quite  unexpectedly,  on  crossing  a  mountain 
ledge,  one  comes  in  sight  of  S.  Leo,  a  tremendous  rock  with 
utterly  perpendicular  sides,  forming  the  most  impregnable 
fortress.  The  town  is  entered  by  a  ledge  in  the  rock  and 
a  tunnelled  way.  Its  Castle — "  La  Rocca  " — is  a  prison  con- 
taining 300  prisoners.  Its  compartments,  from  their  charac- 
teristics, are  called  Llnfertio,  and  //  Paradiso.  In  the  end 
room  of  the  latter  the  famous  Cagliostro  died,  in  1795. 
Facing  the  other  side  of  the  rock,  standing  close  together, 
are  the  two  Cathedrals,  both  of  exceeding  antiquity.  In 
classical  times  San  Leo  bore  the  name  of  Mons  Feretrus 
and  was  celebrated  for  a  magnificent  temple  of  Jupiter.  In 
the  persecution  under  Diocletian,  S.  Leone  fled  hither,  a 
band  of  disciples  gathered  around  him,  and  the  name  was 
changed.  The  place  was  the  seat  of  a  bishopric  in  882, 
and  at  this  date  the  earlier  cathedral  was  in  existence,  for  an 
inscription  on  a  marble  tabernacle  in  the  nave,  which  serves 
as  a  canopy  for  the  font,  says  that  it  was  presented  to  the 
church  in  882  by  Ursus,  Duke  of  Monteferetro.  Several 
pillars  with  beautifully  sculptured  capitals  in  both  cathe- 
drals are  supposed  to  be  relics  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter. 
The  second  cathedral  stands  very  finely  on  the  edge  of 
the  rocks.  It  has  three  aisles ;  from  the  centre  a  staircase 
descends  into  a  noble  crypt ;  from  the  sides,  staircases  ascend 
into  the  choir.  Two  of  the  pillars  in  the  nave  are  sup- 
ported by  a  basement  of  animals. 

S.  Leo  was  the  most  important  fortress  of  the  Dukes  of 
Urbino,  and  was  three  times  besieged  while  in  their  hands, 
the  last  time  in  15 16,  when,  in  the  reign  of  Duke  Guido- 
baldo,  it  was  captured  by  the  papal  troops  under  Lorenzo 
de'  Medici. 


384  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

"The  garrison  consisted  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  men,  one-tenth  of 
whom  had  fallen  in  its  defence.  After  three  months  spent  in  hopeless 
assaults,  a  Florentine  carpenter,  named  Antonio,  observing  from  the 
opposite  height  the  absence  of  sentinels  over  one  of  the  most  precipitous 
parts  of  the  rock,  attempted  to  make  his  way  up  the  face  of  it,  sometimes 
aided  by  plants  and  bushes  in  the  clefts,  but  generally  driving  iron  spikes 
into  their  crevices,  and  fastening  ropes,  ladders,  or  beams,  as  he  ad- 
vanced. After  four  nights  of  this  perilous  toil  he  reached  the  wall, 
which  he  found,  as  he  expected,  without  defenders.  Having  reported  the 
way  accessible,  a  number  of  light  infantry  were  entrusted  to  his  guidance, 
whom  he  ordered  to  strap  upon  their  backs  their  shields,  swords,  and 
hatchets.  On  the  30th  of  September,  under  cover  of  a  wet  and  foggy 
night,  he  conducted  these  safely  to  the  summit,  accompanied  by  a 
drummer  and  four  pairs  of  colours.  At  day-break,  an  alarm  was  given 
from  the  watch-tower  of  an  assault  upon  the  gate,  towards  which  the  be- 
siegers had  sent  a  party  ;  and,  whilst  the  defenders  hurried  in  that 
direction,  Antonio,  with  some  fifty  men,  displayed  their  colours,  and 
beat  to  arms.  Ere  the  garrison  had  recovered  their  presence  of  mind, 
the  gate  was  opened  by  the  escalading  party  to  their  comrades,  and  the 
place  was  carried." — Dennistouti  s  Memoirs  of  the  Duke  of  Urbino. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
PESARO     AND     FANO. 

IT  is  I ^  hr,  by  rail  (3  frs.  95  c.  ;  2  frs.  70  c.)  from  Rimini 
to  Pesaro.  The  line  runs  within  sight  of  the  sea,  and 
passes  : — 

La  Cattolica  (Stat.).  The  place  which  gave  shelter  to  the 
twenty  orthodox  bishops  who  fled  from  the  Arian  Council 
of  Rimini. 

Pesaro  {Inn.  Leone  d'Oro)  was  the  ancient  Pisaurum, 
so  called  from  its  foundation  upon  the  Pisaurus,  now  the 
Fogha.  In  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  in  turn  ruled  by  the 
Popes,  the  Malatestas,  and  Sforzas;  then  it  passed  to  the 
Delia  Rovere,  Dukes  of  Urbino,  when  it  became  the 
residence  of  a  distinguished  and  intellectual  court.  It  is 
described  by  Castiglione  in  the  Cortegiano.  The  residence 
of  Bembo  here  is  mentioned  by  Ariosto  : — 

"  La  feltresca  corte 
Ove  col  formator  del  Cortigiano  '' 

Col  Bembo  e  gli  altri  sacri  al  divo  Apollo 
Facea  I'esilio  suo  men  duro  e  strano." — Sat.  iii. 

Bernardo  Tasso  was  induced  to  settle  at  Pesaro  by  the 
Duchess  Lucrezia  d'Este,  with  his  famous  son  Torquato,  who 
here  wrote  VAmadigi.  In  later  times  Giovacchino  Rossini 
the  composer  was  born  here,  Feb.  29,  1792,  to  whom  a 
bronze  statue  was  erected  near  the  station  in  1864. 
VOL.  II  25 


386  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Pesaro  is  beautifully  situated  in  a  rich  country,  and  is  a 
very  charming  and  prosperous  place.  The  old  Palace  of 
the  Delia  Rovere,  which  Ariosto  called  the  "  Asylum  of  the 
Muses,"  is  now  the  Palazzo  Prefettizio.  It  is  a  noble  work 
of  Girolamo  Genga  and  his  son  Bartolommeo,  c.  1500.  The 
great  hall  is  magnificent.  A  Casino  in  the  garden  is  shown 
as  that  in  which  Tasso  lived  with  his  father. 

The  Biblioteca  Oltvieri  contains  some  Manuscripts  of 
Tasso.  The  Cathedral  is  of  little  interest,  but  almost  all 
the  minor  churches  are  worth  visiting  for  some  one  object. 

S.  Francesco,  which  has  a  splendid  portal  with  sculpture 
in  low  relief,  contains  — 
Left,  1st  Altar.     Giovanni  Bellini.     The  Coronation  of  the  Vii^n. 

"  A  grand  important  work  of  the  Master,  against  which  has  arisen 
many  a  storm  from  outside." — Burckhardt. 

"One  of  the  largest  and  most  important  works  of  the  Master  out  of 
Venice.  The  pilasters  of  the  frame  and  the  predella  are  also  adorned 
with  charming  little  pictures." — Kiigler. 

At  the  end  of  the  right  aisle  are  the  shrine  and  tomb  of 
the  Beata  Michelina  da  Pesaro,  of  the  3rd  Order  of  S. 
Francis,  who  died  June  19,  1356.  She  is  now  the  patroness 
of  the  town,  but  is  far  more  celebrated  from  the  famous 
picture  in  the  Vatican  of  her  ecstasy,  by  Baroccio.  Her 
monument  is  curious,  with  projecting  lions  and  watching 
angels. 

S.  Domenico  (with  lions  at  its  entrance)  contains  : — 

Giovanni  Sanzio.     Marriage  of  S .  Catherine. 
In  the  Sacristy.     Luca  delta  Roblfia.     Madonna. 

S.  Giovanni  Battista  contains  : — 

Choir.    Niccolb  di  Pietro  Gerini  de  Florentia,l6po.    Madonna  between 
S.  Francis  and  S.  Michael,  who  is  weighing  souls. 
Sacristy.     Zoppo.     Christ  between  two  Angels. 


FAXO.  387 

5.  Agostino  has  a  beautiful  Gothic  portal.  In  front  of  its 
pillars  are  lions  ridden  by  old  men.  In  a  chapel  on  the 
right,  is  the  extraordinary  tomb  of  Julius  Jordanus,  1633, 
with  a  huge  dancing  figure  of  Death. 

Two  miles  from  Pesaro,  near  the  summit  of  Monte  S. 
Bartolo,  is  the  Villa  Imperiale,  a  favourite  residence  of  the 
Dukes  of  Urbino,  built  by  the  Duchess  Leonora  Gonzaga 
as  a  surprise  for  her  husband  Francesco  Maria  I.  It  was 
decorated  with  frescoes,  now  much  ruined,  by  Dosso  Dossi 
and  Raffaellhio  del  Colle.  It  has  a  noble  marble  staircase. 
The  views  are  lovely.  Bembo  and  Tasso  sung  the  delights 
of  the  place. 


It  is  \  hr.  by  rail  (i  fr.  35  c. ;  95  c  )  from  Pesaro  to  Fano 
{In?i.  II  Moro),  the  ancient  Fanum  Fortunse. 

It  is  an  interesting  towTi,  standing  near  the  sea-shore,  and 
completely  surrounded  by  its  ancient  walls.  Its  most 
remarkable  features  are  the  Arch  of  Augustus,  the  tombs  of 
the  Malatestas  at  S.  Francesco,  and  the  pictures  at  S.  Maria 
Nuova,  but  there  are  other  objects  which  deserve  notice, 
and  in  a  walk  from  the  station  through  the  rather  compli- 
cated streets  they  may  be  best  visited  in  the  following 
order : — 

Soon  after  entering  the  town  the  Strada  of  S.  Francesco 
leads  (right)  to  the  Church  of  S.  Francesco,  which  has  a 
splendid  round-headed  western  portal.  On  the  right,  in 
the  open  portico,  is  the  fine  tomb  raised  by  the  famous 
Sigismondo  of  Rimini  to  his  father  Pandolfo  Malatesta,  in 
1460;  on  the  left  is  the  tomb  of  the  wife  of  Pandolfo  of 
1398.  Her  beautiful  figure  rests,  slightly  turned  towards 
the  spectator,  on  a  splendid  red  marble  sarcophagus,  with 


388  ■  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

half-figures  of  saints  in  high  relief  in  its  quatrefoils.  Above, 
under  a  Gothic  canopy,  is  a  crucifix,  and  around,  on  brackets 
and  pillars,  are  figures  of  the  Virgin  and  saints,  all  forming 
part  of  the  monument,  which  is  in  good  preservation.  High 
up,  on  the  adjoining  wall,  is  a  fine  bracketted  tomb  of 
another  member  of  the  Malatesta  family. 

The  neighbouring  Church  of  S.  Pietro  contains  : — 

Left,  1st  Chapel.     Guido  Reni.     The  Annunciation. 

S.  Agostino  contains  : — 

Right,  End  Chapel.     Guercino.     The  Guardian  Angel. 

S.  Croce  (the  Hospital  Church)  contains : — 
High  Altar.    Giovanni  Sanzio.    Madonna  enthroned,  with  four  saints. 

S.  Maria  Nuova  contains  : — 

Right,  -^rd  Altar.  Pietro  Perugino,  1497.  Madonna  and  Child, 
with  six  saints.  In  the  lunette,  the  Resurrection.  In  the  predella, 
scenes  from  the  life  of  the  Virgin.  It  is  a  beautiful  picture  in  a  shame- 
ful state  of  neglect . 

Le/i,  1st  Altar.     Giovanni  Sanzio,     The  Salutation. 

"Les  figures  sont  un  peu  trop  elancees,  les  mains  et  les  pieds  trop 
effiles  ;  mais  le  dessin,  quoique  un  peu  roide,  ne  manque  cependant  pas 
de  correction.  En  somme,  I'execution  de  cette  peinture  annonce  en- 
core le  tatonnement  et  la  recherche." — Passavant. 

Left,  2nd  Altar.  Pietro  Perit«ino,  1498.  The  Annunciation — God 
the  Father  appears  above.     Exceedingly  neglected  and  uncared  for. 

S.  Paterniano  (dedicated  to  the  ist  bishop  of  Fano) 
contains : — 

Right,  1st  Altar.     Guercino.     Marriage  of  the  Virgin. 

Left,  1st  Altar.  Cav.  dArpino.  The  Death  of  S.  Joseph.  A 
curious  picture  ;  the  wholly  naked  figure  of  the  aged  saint  is  supported 
by  the  Virgin,  while  Christ  points  to  heaven. 

The  Corso  runs  through  the  Piazza  Maggiore,  which 
contains  a  pretty  fountain  and  the  picturesque  Gothic 
Palazzo  Communale.     Behind,  is  a  court-yard  with  a  loggia, 


FANO. 


389 


and  some  rich  Gothic  windows.  In  one  of  the  rooms  is  the 
famous  picture  by  Domenichino,  of  David  with  the  head  of 
Goliath.  Most  people  will  think  it  very  ugly,  but  it  has 
been  much  injured  by  thieves  who  cut  it  out  of  its  frame 
and  stole  it  from  the  CoUegio  Folfi,  where  it  was  formerly 
kept. 

"The  David  of  Domenichino  is  a  first-rate  object  of  inquiry  to  all 
strangers  visiting  the  college  at  Fano,  who  have  the  least  pretensions  to 
taste  ;  the  figure  of  the  king,  as  large  as  life,  being  of  itself  sufficient  to 
render  an  artist's  name  immortal." — Lanzi. 

Turning  to  the  left  from  the  Corso,  down  the  Via  dell' 


Arco  d'Augusto,  Fano. 


Arco  d'Augusto,  we  reach  (left)  the  CatJiedral of  S.  Fortunato, 
a  poor  church  with  no  external  characteristic  but  the  four 
recumbent  beasts  which  once  supported  a  lost  portico.  It 
contains  : — 


390  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Left,  2nd  Chapel.  Tombs  of  the  Rainalducci  family,  with  portraits. 

Right,  i^k  Chapel.  (Hopelessly  faded  and  injured)  sixteen  frescoes 
by  Domenkhino. 

Chapel  of  Sacristy.  Loci,  Caracci.      Madonna  and  Saints. 

Just  beyond  this,  spanning  the  street,  is  the  beautiful  and 
simple  Triumphal  Arch  of  Augustus.  The  attic  story  was 
added  in  the  fourth  century,  when  it  was  re-dedicated  to 
Constantine.  Artists  will  find  it  a  charming  subject  in 
colour  and  detail. 

Clement  VIII.  (Ippolito  Aldobrandini)  was  bom  at  Fano. 
Julius  II.  established  here,  in  1514,  the  first  printing-press 
known  in  Europe  with  Arabic  types. 


I 


CHAPTER  XL. 

ANCONA. 

IT  is  I  hr.  by  rail  (5  frs.  35  c. ;  3  frs.  75c.)  from  Fano  to 
Ancona. 
Soon  after  leaving  Fano  the  railway  crosses  the  Metaurus, 
the  *'  Velox  Metaurus  "  of  Lucan  (now  called  the  Metro)  — 

**  Caris  venientes  montibus  Umbri, 
Hos  ^sis,  Sapisque  lavant,  rapidasque  sonanti 
Vertice  contorquens  undas  per  saxa  Metaurus." 

Sil.  Ital.  viii.  447. 

It  was  on  the  banks  of  this  river  that  Hasdrubal,  the 
brother  of  Hannibal,  was  killed  in  battle,  fighting  bravely 
when  his  army  was  defeated  by  the  Roman  Consul  C.  Claud- 
ius Nero,  B.C.  207.  The  battle  of  the  Metaurus  was  cele- 
brated by  Horace  and  received  a  canzone  of  Tasso,  when 
the  great  poet  sought  a  refuge  in  the  Duchy  of  Urban  o — 

"  Quid  debeas,  O  Roma,  Neronibus, 

Testis  Metaurum  flumen  et  Hasdrubal 
Devictus  .  .  ,  .  " 

Crossing  the  Cesano  (Suasanum)  the  line  reaches — 
Sinigaglia  (Stat.)  (/««.  Locanda  della  Formica),  the  ancient 

Seno  Gallica,  a  very  flourishing  sea-port  and  bathing-place. 

It  was  an  episcopal  see  in  the  4th  century.     Its  great  Fair, 


392  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

held  between  July  20  and  August  8,  was  established  600  years 
ago.  Hither,  Dec.  31,  1502,  Cesare  Borgia*  beguiled  the 
most  famous  condottieri  of  his  time — Vitellozzo  Vitelli  and 
Oliverotto  of  Fermo — under  pretence  of  entertaining  them  at 
a  banquet,  and,  disappearing  himself,  caused  them  to  be 
strangled  by  his  attendants.  The  town  is  the  residence  of 
the  ancient  family  of  Mastai-Ferretti,  and  Pope  Pius  IX. — 
Count  Giovanni-Maria  Mastai-Ferretti — was  bom  here  in 
1790.  The  singer  Angelica  Catalan!  was  also  born  at  Sini- 
gaglia  in  1784. 

After  passing  Casebruciate,  the  line  comes  in  sight  of 
Ancona,  most  beautiful,  and  not  unlike  Naples,  rising  up  the 
sides  of  a  hill,  crowned  by  the  cathedral. 

Inns.     La  Pace,  near  the  harbour;    Vittoria,  Strada  Calamo. 

Carriages  from  the  station  to  the  to7un,  I  fr.  (i  piece  of  luggage  in- 
cluded). Two  horses  l\  to  2  frs.  For  I  hr.  i|  to  2  frs.,  each  Yz  hr- 
after  60  to  80  c.  Beyond  the  town,  2  frs.  50  c.  or  3  frs.  60  c.  for  I  hr., 
and  I  fr.  15  c.  or  i  fr.  70  c.  for  each  half-hour  after. 

Post  Office  (open  from  8 — 6  o'clock).     Strada  Calamo. 

Telegraph  Office.     Via  del  Porto. 

Ancona,  founded  by  Doric  Greeks  from  Syracuse,  takes  its 
name  from  the  Greek  word  Ancon,  or  an  elbow.  It  under- 
went more  troubles  than  even  most  Italian  cities  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  In  592  it  was  plundered  by  the  Lombards,  in 
839  by  the  Saracens.  In  11 73  it  was  besieged  for  Frederick 
Barbarossa  by  Archbishop  Christian  of  Mayence.  It  was 
during  the  horrible  famine  endured  in  this  siege  that  the 
famous  Stamura  rushed  with  a  burning  torch  through  the 
darts  of  the  enemy,  and  set  fire  to  the  battering-rams  and 
scaling  towers  with  which  the  imperialists  were  assaulting 
the   walls,  and   that  "the  heroine  of  Ancona,"    a  young 

.  •  "  Omnis  humani  divinique  juris  contemptor  et  perturbator."— 5*»«&>. 


ARCH  OF  TRAJAN.  393 

woman  of  noble  birth  with  an  infant  in  her  arms,  finding 
that  a  soldier  had  deserted  his  post  through  hunger,  offered 
him  the  sustenance  of  her  breast  and  bade  him  there  recover 
strength  for  the  defence  of  her  country. 

The  town  then  had  a  constitution  of  its  own  till  1532, 
when  it  was  occupied  by  the  troops  of  Clement  VII.,  and 
continued  to  be  ruled  by  the  Papal  See  till  1799,  when  it 
was  taken  by  the  French.  In  the  following  year  it  was  be- 
sieged for  the  Allies  by  General  Meunier.  It  was  restored 
to  the  Pope  by  the  Treaty  of  Vienna.  In  1832  it  was  again 
occupied  by  the  French.  In  1849  it  was  bombarded  by  the 
Austrians.     In  i860  it  gave  itself  up  to  the  Piedmontese. 

The  characteristic  feature  of  Ancona  appears  in  the 
adage — 

"  Unus  Petrus  est  in  Roma, 
Una  turris  in  Cremona, 
Unus  portus  in  Ancona." 

On  leaving  the  station,  we  pass  the  Lazaretto  (now  a  ware- 
house) built  by  Vanvitelli  in  1733  for  Clement  XII.,  in 
whose  honour  the  same  architect  was  employed  in  1765  to 
raise  the  handsome  gateway  called  the  Arco  Clemeiiiino,  by 
which  we  enter  the  town.  The  view  is  charming  over  the 
harbour,  on  the  north  side  of  which  is  the  old  mole,  pro- 
jecting from  the  foot  of  the  hill  called  Monte  Cirtaco,  or 
Guasco,  on  which  the  town  is  built.  This  mole  is  adorned 
by  the  beautiful  Triw?iphal  Arch  of  Trajan,  erected  to  his 
honour,  a.d.  112,  by  his  wife  Plotina  and  his  sister 
Marciana. 

*'  Let  us  stand  on  the  quay  of  Ancona,  and  turn  away  our  eyes  from 
the  noble  bay,  with  the  long  line  of  its  coast  dotted  with  towers  and 
castles,  and  with  the  mountains  rising  behind  them.  Let  us  turn  our 
eyes  inland,  and  from  several  happily-chosen  spots  the  view  immediately 


394 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


before  us  seems  a  worthier  symbol  of  the  great  change  that  has  come 
over  the  world  than  the  half-spiteful  device  of  surmounting  the  monu- 
ments of  Trajan  and  Antoninus  with  objects  of  Christian  reverence. 
Close  before  us  rises  the  arch  of  Trajan,  where  the  prince  to  whom  his 
own  and  later  ages  decreed  the  title  of  the  Best  is  celebrated,  not  for  any 
of  his  warlike  exploits,  not  for  adding  provinces  beyond  the  Danube  and 
the  Tigris,  but  for  the  more  useful  task  of  finishing  the  work  on  which 
we  are  now  standing,  the  great  mole  of  the  harbour  of  Ancona.  Through 
the  narrow  arch,  from  a  well-chosen  spot — soaring  above  the  arch  and  all 


Arch  of  Trajan,  Ancona. 


that  it  supports,  from  a  spot  still  better  chosen — we  see  the  peninsular 
hill  which  rises  above  the  port  and  city,  itseW  crowned  by  the  stately 
Duomo  of  Ancona,  the  church  of  the  martyr  Cyriacus.  The  Christian 
temple  seated  on  its  lordly  height  seems  to  look  down  with  an  eye  of 
silent  rebuke  upon  the  monument  of  the  prince  who  condemned  Ignatius 
to  the  lions.  The  moral  of  the  group  is  perhaps  disturbed  rather  than 
heightened  when  we  carry  our  inquiries  further,  when  we  learn  that  the 
church  of  S.  Cyriacus  is  itself  an  example  of  the  less  noble  form  of 
Christian  triumph — that  it  has  taken  the  place  and  grown  out  of  the 
materials  of  the  chief  temple  of  the  city  in  heathen  times.  We  could 
perhaps  rather  have  wished  that  the  triumph  of  the  new  faith  on  such  a 
site  had  been  embodied  in  some  building  wholly  the  design  of  Christian 
skill  and  the  work  of  Christian  hands,  a  building  which  owed  nothing  to 
the  despoiling  of  the  holy  places  of  the  fallen  creed.     But  from  the  point 


CATHEDRAL  OF  ANCONA.  395 

of  which  we  speak  thoughts  of  this  kind  cannot  suggest  themselves. 
The  Duomo  of  Ancona,  as  seen  from  the  mole,  as  seen  anywhere  from 
the  outside,  is  a  building  whose  forms  are  purely  and  eloquently  Chris- 
tian. Unlike  the  earlier  basilicas  of  Ravenna  and  Rome,  it  is  not  satis- 
fied to  be  all-glorious  within ;  it  has  its  external  outline,  the  outline  of  the 
now  triumphant  cross,  the  four  arms  joining  to  support  the  cupola  as  the 
crown  of  the  whole,  as  distinctly  marked  as  any  minster  of  England  or 
Normandy.  The  cupola,  instead  of  the  massive  towers,  the  detached 
campanile,  unworthy  as  it  is  of  the  building  to  which  it  belongs,  tells  us 
that  we  are  not  in  Normandy  or  England,  but  in  Italy.  But  another 
feature  of  the  building  tells  us  that  we  are  in  one  of  those  spots  of  Italy 
on  which  influences  from  the  other  side  of  the  Adriatic  have  left  a 
lasting  impress.  The  city  which  had  once  been  the  Dorian  Ankon, 
the  city  which  was  to  be  the  last  fortress  in  Italy  to  be  held  by  the  troops 
of  a  Byzantine  Emperor,  not  unfittingly  shows  the  sign  of  kindred  with 
the  East  in  the  form  of  the  chief  monument  of  its  intermediate  days. 
The  Duomo  of  Ancona  follows  neither  the  oblong  type  of  the  basilicas, 
nor  the  Latin  cross  of  Pisa.  The  church  which  contains  the  columns 
of  the  temple  of  Dorian  Aphrodite  is  still  so  far  Greek  as  to  follow  in 
its  general  plan  the  same  Greek  cross  as  St.  Mark's,  though  without  that 
further  accumulation  of  many  cupolas  which  makes  the  ducal  church  of 
Venice  one  of  the  many  reminders  that  in  the  city  of  the  lagoons  we  are 
in  the  Eastern,  and  not  in  the  Western  world." — Freeman. 

The  streets  of  Ancona  are  narrow  and  steep,  running  up 
the  sides  of  the  hills  and,  for  the  most  part,  ending  below  in 
the  handsome  Piazza  del  Teatro.  The  chief  object  of  in- 
terest is  the 

Cathedral  of  S.  Ciriaco,  which  stands  so  conspicuously 
at  the  top  of  Monte  Guasco,  occupying  the  site  of  the 
ancient  temple  of  Venus.  In  examining  this  church, 
which  is  Greek  in  all  its  parts,  it  will  be  remembered  that 
Ancona  was  one  of  the  Italian  cities  which  remained  longest 
with  the  Emperor  of  the  East,  under  whose  dominion  the 
church  was  built.  Muratori  says  that  "  the  Emperor  Fred- 
erick saw  with  impatience  Ancona,  that  remnant  of  Oriental 
power,  in  the  heart  of  the  Western  Empire." 

"  The  church  which  has  supplanted  the  ancient  temple  on  the  penin- 


396  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

sular  height  is  not  wholly  unworthy  either  of  the  lordly  position  on 
which  it  stands,  or  of  the  long  train  of  associations  which  is  called  up 
by  the  prospect  on  which  it  looks  down  so  proudly.  The  Greek  cross 
perhaps  makes  us  ask  for  the  four  subordinate  cupolas  gathering  round 
the  great  centre,  as  in  the  three  examples  which  form  as  it  were  the 
family  tree  of  domical  architecture,  St.  Sophia,  St.  Mark,  and  St.  Front 
at  Perigieux.  Our  first  feeling  perhaps  is  one  of  puzzledom  at  the 
seemingly  amazing  length  of  the  transepts  and  shortness  of  the  nave. 
The  south  transept  indeed,  furnished  as  both  of  them  are  with  aisles  and 
finished  with  apses,  might  for  an  instant  pass  for  the  eastern  limb.  In 
fact,  the  western  limb  is  internally  the  shortest  of  the  four.  Each  con- 
sists of  three  bays,  the  eastern,  northern,  and  southern  being  originally 
furnished  with  an  apse.  But  the  eastern  apse  has  unluckily  given  way 
to  a  square-ended  addition  of  a  somewhat  later  time,  which  greatly  mars 
the  general  proportion  of  the  building.  It  is  easy  to  see  that,  in  more 
than  one  point,  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  details  of  the  orna- 
mental pilasters  and  arcades  ;  but,  except  the  outward  addition  at  the 
east  end,  there  is  nothing  to  interfere  with  the  general  character  of  the 
building  as  a  pure  but  not  very  rich  specimen  of  the  Italian  Romanesque 
at  its  best  point,  when  it  had  shaken  itself  quite  free  from  classical 
trammels  and  was  not  yet  corrupted  by  hopeless  imitations  of  Northern 
forms.  The  chief  ornamental  feature  outside,  the  only  feature  where 
there  is  any  great  degree  of  enrichment,  is  the  magnificent  western 
porch,  with  its  many  receding  orders,  and  its  columns  resting  in  true 
Italian  fashion  on  the  backs  of  lions,  lions  among  the  most  life-like  of 
their  kind.  We  fancy  that  in  some  of  the  orders  the  beginnings  of 
pointed  arches  may  be  detected,  but  they  do  not  thrust  themselves  into 
such  prominence  as  seriously  to  interfere  with  the  Romanesque  purity  of 
the  building.  The  rest  of  the  front  is  plain  ;  there  is  no  trace  of  the 
arcades  of  Pisa  and  Lucca,  and  Saint  Zeno's  wheel  of  fortune  is,  both 
here  and  in  the  transept,  represented  only  by  a  single  circle.  But  when 
we  have  once  taken  in  the  peculiar  arrangements  of  the  church,  the 
whole  fits  in  well  together,  and  the  octagonal  cupola  on  its  square  base 
rises  well  with  its  four  supporting  arms,  far  better  than  it  could  have 
done  if  the  nave  had  attempted  anything  of  basilican  length.  Within, 
an  ingenious  arrangement  of  pendentives  supports  it  well  over  the  four 
arches  which  bear  it  up,  though  we  might  have  wished  that  they  and 
the  piers  on  which  they  rest  had  been  made  more  prominent  objects  in 
the  interior.  The  arches  of  the  four  limbs  rest  on  monolith  columns, 
the  spoils  of  the  ancient  temple,  and  they  are  crowned  by  capitals  of 
various  forms,  classical  and  quasi-classical,  some  almost  barbaric  in 
their  foliage,  but  still  all  confining  themselves  to  foliage,  and  not  seeking 


CATHEDRAL  OF  ANCONA.  397 

for  richness  in  the  shape  of  human  or  animal  forms.  Those  in  the 
south  transept  are  worthy  of  special  study  as  showing  some  of  the 
curious  ways  in  which  the  volute  and  the  other  classical  details  might 
be  used  in  the  various  attempts  to  avoid  exposing  the  delicate  work  of 
the  capital  to  the  full  weight  of  the  arch  which  it  had  to  bear.  But  the 
study  of  the  columns  and  capitals  in  the  Duomo  at  Ancona  is  a  case  of 
the  pursuit  of  knowledge  under  difficulties.  Anconitan  taste  seemingly 
looks  on  a  marble  shaft  and  a  Corinthian  capital  as  something  which  is 
less  a  thing  of  beauty  than  certain  fragments  of  red  rags  with  which  the 
greater  part  of  column  and  capital  are  carefully  covered.  Yet,  after  all, 
this  display  of  Anconitan  taste  is  not  more  wonderful  than  that  which 
condemned  the  north  transept  and  the  crypt  below  it  to  be  mercilessly 
Jesuited.  The  crypt  under  the  southern  transept  has  escaped  ;  it  keeps 
its  natural  columns,  and  it  is  rich  in  tombs  and  inscriptions  of  various 
dates  and  burials,  one  of  them  in  the  Greek  language,  recording  the 
burial-place  of  the  martyr  Dacios. " — Freeman. 

The  chief  features  of  the  Interior  are  the  curious  wooden 
roof;  the  marble  screen  of  the  left  transept,  with  figures  of 
saints  on  one  side,  and,  on  the  other,  peacocks,  eagles,  and 
storks  in  low  relief;  and  the  crypt.  Here,  in  the  right  tran- 
sept, is  the  beautiful  Sarcophagus  of  Titus  Gorgonius,  Praetor 
of  Ancona. 

"This  work  displays  no  great  delicacy  of  execution,  but  has  rich 
sculptures  on  all  four  sides  and  in  excellent  preservation.  On  the  front 
side,  in  the  centre,  is  the  enthroned  figure  of  Christ,  and  at  His  feet  are 
the  two  deceased  persons,  in  a  humble  attitude,  and  ten  of  the  Apostles. 
One  side  contains  Moses  receiving  the  Tables  of  the  Law  and  the 
Offering  of  Isaac,  the  other  side  Christ  before  Pilate.  The  back 
shows  the  husband  and  wife,  full-length  figures,  embracing  each  other, 
and  in  the  corners  the  two  Apostles  omitted  on  the  front.  On  the  edge 
of  the  lid,  which  is  here  likewise  decorated,  two  angels  are  holding  the 
mscription-lablet ;  beside  this,  there  "are  the  Three  Kings,  the  Birth  of 
Christ,  and  the  Healing  of  the  Blind  Man  ;  on  one  of  the  narrow  sides 
Christ  appears  as  a  teacher,  on  the  other  making  his  Entry  into  Jeru- 
salem. " — Liibke. 

In  the  left  transept  of  the  Crypt  are  the  tombs  of  SS. 
Ciriacus,  Marcellinus,  and  Liberius. 

The  Strada  della  Loggia  leads  (left)  from  the  Piazza  del 


398  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Teatro.  On  the  left  of  this  street  is  the  handsome  Loggia 
del  Menanti,  with  a  very  richly  ornamented  front.  It  was 
begun  in  1443,  by  Giov.  Sodo  da  Ancona,  and  finished  in 
1459,  by  Giorgio  da  Sebenico.  The  hall  is  a  magnificent 
room,  with  ceilings  painted  in  the  manner  of  Peregrino 
Tibaldi. 

Further,  on  the  right,  almost  opposite  the  Hotel  della 
Pace,  is  the  Church  of  S.  Maria  della  Piazza,  with  a  glorious 
fa9ade  of  12 10. 

"  Disfigured  without  mercy  within,  hemmed  in  among  mean  buildings 
without,  furnished  with  an  unworthy  campanile,  this  church  still  retains 
its  west  front  of  the  very  richest  form  of  the  more  barbaric  variety  of  the 
Italian  Romanesque,  that  which  departs  most  widely  from  classical  and 
approaches  most  nearly  to  Northern  forms.  It  is  covered  with  arcades, 
with  a  magnificent  doorway  in  the  centre,  and  almost  every  arch  of  the 
design  is  living  with  figures,  human,  animal,  and  vegetable.  The  door- 
way is  utterly  unlike  its  equally  splendid  neighbour  in  the  Duomo.  It 
has,  in  fact,  not  only  a  Northern,  but,  one  might  almost  say,  an  Irish 
or  North  Welsh  character,  in  its  utter  rejection  of  the  column  in  favour 
of  a  system  of  members,  square  and  round,  continued  round  both  jamb 
and  arch,  the  round  members  being  repeatedly  banded  in  a  way  which, 
to  the  few  who  have  made  their  way  to  so  wild  a  spot,  will  at  once 
suggest  the  grand  doorway  of  Strata  Florida  in  Cardiganshire." — Free- 
man. 

Continuing  to  follow  the  same  street,  we  pass  on  the  right 
the  humble  Church  of  La  Madonna  della  Misertcordta,  which 
might  easily  pass  unnoticed,  but  has  an  interesting  portal  by 

Sebenico. 

"  All  traces  of  the  Gothic  style  are  here  effaced,  and  the  work  appears 
as  rich  early  Renaissance.  Heavy  garlands  of  fruit,  admirably  executed 
in  marble,  hang  down  on  both  sides  from  the  cornice  of  the  door. 
Below  stand  two  putti,  with  basons  for  holy  water  on  their  heads.  In 
the  tympanum  appears  the  Madonna  spreading  her  mantle  over  several 
figures. " — L  iibke. 

Several  other  churches  deserve  notice.     That  of  S.  Agos- 


S.  AGOSTINO,  S.  FRANCESCO.  399 

tino,  close  to  the  Piazza  del  Teatro  on  the  right,  was  rebuilt 
by  Vanvitelli,  but  retains  its  Gothic  portal,  into  which  some 
Renaissance  columns  have  been  introduced. 

"  The  treatment  of  the  portal  walls,  with  their  small  columns,  is  still 
mediaeval.  The  pilasters  also,  with  their  niches  and  statues,  are  Gothic 
in  style ;  but  they  rest  on  Corinthian  columns  with  fluted  shafts,  and  the 
outermost  framework  of  the  whole  is  formed  by  slender  pilasters  with 
graceful  Renaissance  decoration.  Vasari,  m  his  Life  of  Duccio,  is 
inclined  to  ascribe  this  portal  to  a  master,  otherwise  little  kno>vn,  of  the 
name  of  Moccio,  who  was  employed  in  1340  in  the  enlargement  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Siena.  It  is  however  certain  that  Master  Giorgio  da 
Sebenico  began  this  portal,  though  he  left  it  unfinished  at  his  death. 
It  agrees,  moreover,  with  the  other  works  of  Giorgio.  The  Gothic 
design  and  decoration  of  the  portal  evidently  proceed  from  him.  After 
his  death,  no  doubt,  the  work  was  finished  by  a  master  who  had  become 
acquainted  with  the  new  style,  and  who  added  ornament  of  a  similar 
character.  The  same  hand  probably  executed  the  sculptures,  which,  in 
their  vigorous  life,  seem  attributable  to  a  Florentine  artist.  In  the 
pilaster  niches  there  are  four  saints,  which  in  position,  drapery,  and 
expression,  betray  an  able  artist  hand ;  in  the  arched  compartment  above 
the  tympanum  there  is  an  Annunciation,  which  recalls  the  charming 
figures  of  Robbia.  In  the  upper  arched  compartment  there  appears  the 
figure  of  S.  Augustine,  sitting  in  almost  passionate  excitement,  with  his 
book  upraised,  as  if  imploringly  ;  while  two  bold  advancing  angels  (one 
of  them  seen  from  behind  and  in  masterly  foreshortening)  are  separat- 
ing the  folds  of  the  curtain.  It  is  a  work  which  evidences  a  most  skilful 
sculptor  and  one  who  commands  all  the  resources  of  his  art." — Liibke. 

This  Church  contains  a  number  of  works  by  LillOy 
generally  known  as  Andrea  da  Ancona. 

The  Church  of  S.  Francesco  deir  Ospedale  (north  of  the 
Piazza  del  Teatro,  on  the  ascent  of  the  hill)  has  a  splendid 
Gothic  doorway  of  145  5,  by  Giorgio  da  Sebenico.  It  is  now 
turned  into  a  barrack,  and  its  pictures  have  been  removed. 
The  corridor  of  the  adjoining  hospital  has  a  beautiful  door- 
way with  sculptures  of  birds  and  flowers  in  Ioav  relief  Also 
on  the  hill-side,  in  a  back  street,  is  the  fine  Romanesque 
front  of  S.  Pietro. 


400  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  Palazzo  del  Comune  in  the  Piazza  del  Gesli  was  built 
in  1270,  from  designs  oi  Margaritone. 


A  pleasant  excursion  (9I  miles)  may  be  made  from 
Ancona  to  the  Camaldolensian  Monastery  on  Monte  Conero 
(1763  ft),  which  commands  a  magnificent  view.  A  carriage 
may  be  taken  for  the  first  7^  m.,  but  the  mountain  must  be 
ascended  on  foot. 


CHAPTER  XLL 

LORETO  AND  THE  MARCHE. 

AN  excursion  can  easily  be  made  by  rail  to  Loreto  (2  frs. 
70  c. ;  I  fr,  90  c.)  in  the  day  from  Ancona,  returning 
at  night.     The  Railway  passes  : — 

Osimo  (stat),  the  ancient  Auximum,  a  Roman  colony, 
which,  from  its  strength,  was  one  of  the  principal  places  in 
Picenium, 

"  Admotae  pulsarunt  Auximon  alse." — Lucan,  ii.  466. 

The  city  is  on  the  top  of  a  high  hill  (omnibus  60  c.) 
whence  there  is  a  beautiful  view.  A  number  of  Roman  in- 
scriptions and  broken  statues  are  preserved  in  the  Palazzo 
Pubblico.  The  Cathedral,  dedicated  to  the  Greek  saint 
Thecla  who  suffered  martyrdom  at  Seleucia,  has  some  local 
celebrity  as  enshrining  the  body  of  S.  Giuseppe  di  Coper- 
lino.  It  contains  a  series  of  portraits  of  all  the  bishops  of 
Osimo.  A  great  part  of  the  Town  Wall  is  that  of  Auximum, 
and  dates  from  200  b.c. 

On  the  right  of  the  railway  is  Castelfidardo,  where  the 
papal  troops  were  defeated  by  the  Sardinians  under  Cial- 
dino,  Sept.  18,  i860. 

The  country  is  rich  and  very  fertile.  In  April  the  fields 
are  covered  with  scarlet  tulips ;  the  contadini  here  do  their 
work  in  garments  which  look  exactly  like  night-gowns. 

VOL.    II.  26 


402  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Loreto  is  2  m.  from  the  railway,  at  the  top  of  a  high  hill, 

(Omnibus  for  the  ascent,  60  c. 

Inns.  Pace,  at  the  Porta  Romana,  good.  Posta,  in  the  principal 
street.) 

Loreto,  "  the  European  Nazareth,"  next  to  Rome,  is  the 
most  popular  place  of  Christian  pilgrimage  in  the  world. 

"  Hie  sane  locus  Italiae  decus,  orbis  miraculum,  nationum  celebritas, 
gentium  gaudium,  asylum,  expiatio  peccatorum,  peregrinantum  requies, 
piorum  desiderium  iteratum  et  amor." — Ughelli,  Italia  Sacra. 


Loreto. 

The  Holy  House  of  Nazareth,  which  witnessed  the  Annun- 
ciation, the  Incarnation,  and  which  was  the  home  of  the  Holy 
Family  after  their  return  from  Egypt,  long  continued  an  ob- 
ject of  pilgrimage  on  its  native  site.  The  Empress  Helena 
Went  to  worship  there,  and  erected  a  church  over  it,  with 
the  inscription — "  Haec  est  ara,  in  qua  primo  jactum  est 
humange  salutis  fundamentum."  S.  Louis  was  among  its 
later  pilgrims.  But  in  the  13th  century,  when  threatened 
with  desecration  by  the  Saracens,  the  angels  are  said  to 
liave  taken  it  up  (a.d.  1291)  and  to  have  deposited  it 
iti  a  place  of  safety  on  the  coast  of  Dalmatia,  between 
Fiume  and  Tersato.      Here  it  remained  undisturbed  for 


THE  HOLY  HOUSE.  403 

three  years,  but  being  again  in  danger,  the  angels  again  took 
it  up,  and  bore  it  over  the  sea  to  this  hill,  up  to  that  time 
called  Villa  di  S.  Maria,  where  they  deposited  it  in  1295  in  the 
garden  of  a  devout  widow  called  Laureta.  The  happy  event 
was  announced  in  a  vision  to  S.  Nicholas  of  Tolentino, 
The  Holy  House  soon  became  an  object  of  pilgrimage, 
and  such  offerings  were  made  to  the  shrine  9.S  to  excite  the 
cupidity  of  the  Saracens,  against  whom  Sixtus  V.  surrounded 
the  place  with  walls  in  1586,  when  Loreto  became  a  city. 
Tasso  was  amongst  the  innumerable  pilgrims  of  the  Holy 
House,  and  alludes  to  this  in  the  Canzone  : — 

"  Ecco  fra  le  tempeste,  e  i  fieri  venti 
Di  questo  grande  a  spazioso  mare, 
O  santa  Stella,  il  tuo  splendor  m'ha  scorto, 
Ch'  illustra  e  scilda  pur  Tumane  menti." 

"Every  one  knows  the  story  of  the  House  of  Loreto.  The  devotion 
of  one-half  the  world,  and  the  ridicule  of  the  other  half,  has  made  us 
familiar  with  the  strange  story,  written  in  all  the  languages  of  Europe 
round  the  walls  of  that  remarkable  sanctuary.  But  the  '  wondrous 
flitting '  of  the  Holy  House  is  not  the  feature  in  its  history  which  is  most 
present  to  the  pilgrims  who  frequent  it.  It  is  regarded  by  them  simply  as 
an  actual  fragment  of  the  Holy  Land  sacred  as  the  very  spot  on  which  the 
mystery  of  the  Incarnation  was  announced  and  begun.  In  proportion  to 
the  sincerity  and  extent  of  this  belief  is  the  veneration  which  attaches  to 
what  is  undoubtedly  the  most  frequented  sanctuary  in  Christendom. 

"  No  one  who  has  ever  witnessed  the  devotion  of  the  Italian  people  on 
this  singular  spot,  can  wish  to  speak  liglitly  of  the  feelings  which  it  in- 
spires. But  a  dispassionate  statement  of  the  real  facts  of  the  case  may 
not  be  without  use.  It  has  been  ably  proved,  first,  that  of  all  the  pil- 
grims who  record  their  visit  to  Nazareth  from  the  fourth  to  the  six- 
teenth century,  not  one  alludes  to  any  house  of  Joseph  as  standing  there, 
or  as  having  stood  there,  within  human  memory  or  record  ;  secondly, 
that  the  records  of  Italy  contain  no  mention  of  the  house  till  the  fifteenth 
century  ;  thirdly,  that  the  representation  of  the  story  as  it  now  stands, 
with  the  double  or  triple  transplantation  of  the  sanctuary,  occurs  first  in 
a  bull  of  Leo  X.  in  the  year  1518.  The  House  of  Loreto  and  the 
House  of  Nazareth  each  profess  to  contain  the  exact  spot  of  the  angelic 


404  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

visitation,  yet  no  one  can  visit  both  sanctuaries  without  perceiving  that 
by  no  possibility  can  one  be  amalgamated  with  the  other.  The  House 
at  Loreto  is  an  edifice  of  thirty-six  feet  by  seventeen  ;  its  walls,  though 
externally  cased  in  marble,  can  be  seen  in  their  original  state  from  the 
inside,  and  there  appear  to  be  of  dark  red  polished  stone.  The  west 
wall  has  one  square  window,  through  which  it  is  said  the  angel  flew  ;  the 
east  wall  contains  a  rude  chimney,  in  front  of  wliich  is  a  mass  of 
cemented  stone,  said  to  be  the  altar  on  which  S.  Peter  said  mass,  when 
the  apostles,  after  the  Ascension,  turned  the  house  into  a  church.  On 
the  north  side  is  (or  rather  was)  a  door,  now  walled  up.  The  monks  of 
Loreto  and  Nazareth  have  but  a  dim  knowledge  of  the  sacred  localities 
of  each  other.  Still  the  monks  of  Nazareth  could  not  be  altogether 
ignorant  of  the  mighty  sanctuary  which,  under  the  highest  authorities  of 
their  Church,  professes  to  have  once  rested  on  the  ground  they  now  oc- 
cupy. They  show,  therefore,  to  any  traveller,  who  takes  the  pains  to 
inquire,  the  space  on  which  the  Holy  House  stood  before  its  flight. 
That  space  is  a  vestibule  immediately  in  front  of  the  sacred  grotto  ;  and 
an  attempt  is  made  to  unite  the  two  localities  by  supposing  that  there 
were  openings  from  the  house  into  the  grotto.  Without  laying  any 
stress  on  the  obvious  variation  of  measurements,  the  position  of  the 
grotto  is,  and  must  always  have  been,  absolutely  incompatible  with  any 
such  adjacent  building  as  that  at  Loreto.  Whichever  way  the  house  is 
supposed  to  abut  on  the  rock,  it  is  obvious  that  such  a  house  as  has 
been  described,  would  have  closed  up,  with  blank  walls,  the  very  pas- 
sages by  which  alone  the  communication  could  be  effected.  And  it  may 
be  added,  that  although  there  is  no  traditional  masonry  of  the  Santa 
Casa  left  at  Nazareth,  there  is  the  traditional  masonry  close  by  of  the 
so-called  workshop  of  Joseph  of  an  entirely  different  character.  Whilst 
the  former  is  of  a  kind  wholly  unlike  anything  in  Palestine,  the  latter  is, 
as  might  be  expected,  of  the  natural  grey  limestone  of  the  country,  of 
which  in  all  times,  no  doubt,  the  houses  of  Nazareth  were  built. 

"The legend  is  curious  as  an  illustration  ofthehistory  of 'Holy  Places' 
generally.  It  is  difficult  to  say  how  it  originated — or  what  led  to  the 
special  selection  of  the  Adriatic  Gulf  as  the  scene  of  such  a  fable  ;  yet, 
generally  speaking,  the  explanation  is  easy  and  instructive.  Nazareth 
was  taken  by  Sultan  Khalil  in  1291,  when  he  stormed  the  last  refuge 
of  the  Crusaders  in  the  neighbouring  city  of  Acre.  From  that  time,  not 
Nazareth  only,  but  the  whole  of  Palestine,  was  closed  to  the  devotions 
of  Europe.  The  Crusaders  were  expelled  from  Asia,  and  in  Europe  the 
spirit  of  the  Crusades  was  extinct.  But  the  natural  longing  to  see  the 
scenes  of  the  events  of  the  Sacred  History — the  superstitious  craving  to 
win  for  prayers  the  favour  of  consecrated  localities— did  not  expire  with 


C  HIES  A  BELLA  SANTA  CAS  A.  405 

the  Crusades.  Can  we  wonder  that,  under  such  circumstances,  there 
should  have  arisen  tlie  feeling,  the  desire,  the  belief,  that  if  Mahomet 
could  not  go  to  the  mountain,  the  mountain  must  come  to  Mahomet  ? 
The  house  of  Loreto  is  the  petrifaction,  so  to  speak,  of  the  '  Last  sigh  of 
the  Crusades  ; '  suggested  possibly  by  the  Holy  House  of  S.  Francis  of 
Assisi,  then  first  acquiring  its  European  celebrity." — A.  P.  Stanley, 
"  Sinai  and  Palestine. " 


Like  all  shrines  of  the  Madonna,  the  town  teems  with 
beggars,  exhibiting  horrible  maimed  limbs,  and  demanding 
charity  in  her  name. 

From  the  Porta  Romana,  by  which  we  enter  the  town, 
the  street  called  Via  dei  Coronari  (from  the  rosary-makers) 
is  lined  with  booths  filled  with  rosaries,  reliquaries,  scapu- 
laries,  crucifixes,  rings,  pictures,  and  photographs,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  pilgrims.  Through  these  we  reach  the 
Piazza  della  Madonna,  at  the  end  of  which  is  the  great 
church,  and  round  the  sides  the  Palazzo  Apostolico.  In  the 
centre  of  the  square  is  a  beautiful  fountain  by  Giacometti. 
Before  the  fagade  is  a  grand  seated  bronze  statue  of  Sixtus 
V.  by  Calcagni,  1588. 

The  Church  is  called  Chiesa  della  Santa  Casa.  The 
campanile  is  by  Vanvitelli.  The  facade  was  erected  by 
Sixtus  V.  Over  the  principal  door  are  the  Virgin  and  Child 
in  bronze  by  Girolamo  Lombardo.  The  three  doors  are  of 
bronze.  The  reliefs  of  that  in  the  centre,  cast  by  the  four 
sons  of  Girolamo  Lombardo,  represent  the  earliest  events 
of  Old  Testament  history.  The  gate  on  the  left  is  by  Tibur- 
zio  Vercelli,  and  that  on  the  right  by  Calcagni  Sebastiani  and 
Giacometti ;  their  reliefs  continue  the  series  from  the  Expul- 
sion from  Paradise  to  the  History  of  Moses. 

Entering  the  church,  we  advance  up  the  nave  (the  roof  of 
which  is  painted  with  figures  of  the  prophets  by  Luca  Sig- 


4o6  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

norelli)  to  the  space  beneath  the  cupola  which  is  occupied 
by  the  Santa  Casa  itself.  Externally  we  see  no  trace  of  the 
cottage  of  Nazareth ;  what  we  see  is  a  most  gorgeous  chapel, 
encrusted  with  the  richest  and  most  delicate  sculpture. 
But  on  the  festas  pilgrims  are  advancing  round  it  upon 
their  knees  through  furrows  which  have  been  worn  by  per- 
petual devotion,  and  at  each  door  are  guards  with  drawn 
swords  to  prevent  religious  excitement  from  causing  them  to 
crush  one  another  to  death  as  they  enter.  We  enter  with 
them  and  find  ourselves  in  a  rough  blackened  chamber 
(13I  ft.  high,  27^  long,  i2\  broad).  The  walls,  they  say, 
are  exactly  the  same  as  those  carried  by  the  angels,  but  the 
floor  fell  out  as  the  House  was  crossing  the  Adriatic,  and  has 
had  to  be  renewed.  Over  the  altar  as  seen  from  the  outer 
chapel,  and  the  chimney,  as  seen  from  beneath,  radiant  in 
real  diamonds  and  rubies,  and  illuminated  by  the  flames  of 
62  ever-burning  golden  lamps,  is  the  Palladium  of  the  shrine, 
a  black  image  of  the  Virgin  and  Child,  said  "to  be  carved 
from  cedar-wood  of  Lebanon,  and  of  course  attributed  to  S. 
Luke.  Two  curious  relics  are  aihxed  to  the  wall,  a  cannon 
ball  offered  by  Julius  II.  in  remembrance  of  his  escape  at 
the  siege  of  Mirandola ;  and  (now  secured  by  iron  cramps) 
a  stone  of  the  Holy  House,  stolen  by  the  Bishop  of  Coim- 
bra  in  the  time  of  Paul  III.,  and  restored  in  consequence 
of  the  ill-health  which  punished  his  theft. 

All  the  greatest  sculptors  of  the  time  were  employed  upon 
the  ornamentation  of  the  casing  of  the  Santa  Casa,  which 
was  designed  by  Bramante.  Against  the  pillars  stand  twenty 
statues  of  prophets  and  sibyls ;  their  authors  are  for  the  most 
part  uncertain,  but  the  sibyls  are  ascribed  to  Guglielmo  della 
Porta,  the  prophet  Jeremiah  (perhaps  the  finest  figure)  to 


THE  SANTA  CAS  A.  407 

Sansovino.     On  the  four  walls  are  splendid  reliefs  by  San- 
sovino  and  his  School.     They  are  : — 

Western  WalL— 

Sansovino.     The  Annunciation. 

"  The  Virgin  is  deeply  moved  by  the  salutation  she  is  receiving  ;  and 
the  angel,  who  is  kneeling,  does  not  appear  to  be  a  mere  figure  of  marble, 
but  a  living  being  of  truly  celestial  beauty,  from  whose  lips  the  words, 
'Ave  Maria,' seem  to  be  sounding.  Gabriel  is  accompanied  by  two 
other  angels,  in  full  relief,  and  entirely  detached  from  the  marble  which 
forms  the  ground,  one  of  these  follows  immediately  behind  Gabriel,  the 
other  appears  in  the  attitude  of  flying.  There  are  moreover  two  other 
angels,  seen  as  if  advancing  from  behind  a  building,  and  so  delicately 
sculptured  that  they  have  quite  the  look  of  life.  In  the  air,  on  a  cloud 
so  lightly  treated  as  to  be  almost  entirely  detached  from  the  marble 
beneath,  is  a  group  of  angels  in  the  form  of  boys,  who  support  a  figure 
of  God  the  Father,  in  the  act  of  sending  down  the  Holy  Spirit ;  this  is 
shown  by  means  of  a  ray  which  streams  from  the  Almighty,  of  which 
the  marble,  entirely  detached,  has  a  most  natural  effect ;  the  same  may 
be  said  of  the  Dove  which  represents  the  Holy  Spirit. 

"  In  this  work  there  is  a  vase  of  flowers,  which  the  graceful  hand  of 
this  master  has  sculptured  with  such  excessive  delicacy,  that  no  words 
can  describe  the  perfection  of  its  beauty  ;  the  plumes  of  the  angels  also, 
t  he  softness  of  the  hair,  the  beauty  of  the  countenances,  the  grace  of  the 
drapery,  every  part  in  short  is  so  marvellously  excellent,  that  no  praise 
bestowed  upon  this  divine  work  can  equal  what  it  deserves.  Nor  of  a 
truth  could  that  most  holy  place,  which  was  the  very  home  and  habita- 
tion of  the  Mother  of  God's  divine  Son,  receive  any  more  beautiful,  rich, 
or  worthy  adornment  than  it  has  obtained  from  the  architecture  of 
Bramante,  and  the  sculpture  of  Andrea  Sansovino.  Nay,  were  the 
whole  work  of  the  most  precious  oriental  jewels,  the  worth  would  be 
little  or  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  innumerable  merits  of  that 
which  it  now  exhibits." — Vasari. 

(Beneath)  Montelupo  and  Fr.  Sangallo.  The  Visitation,  and  the 
Virgin  at  Bethlehem. 

Southern  Wall. — 

!$ansovino.     The  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds. 

Montelupo  and  Girol.  Lombardo.     The  Adoration  of  the  Magi. 

Eastern  Wall. — 

Tribolo  and  Francesco  Sangallo  ( 1 533).  The  Translation  of  the  Santa 
Casa. 


4oS  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Domenico  Aimo  dn  Bologna.     The  Death  of  the  Virgin. 

Northern  Wall. — 

{Over  the  1st  door)  Sansouina.     The  Birth  of  the  Virgin. 
( Ovo'  the  2nd  door)  Tribolo.     The  Marriage  of  the  Virgin. 

Later  critics  have  not  shared  the  unbounded  praise 
bestowed  by  Vasari  upon  the  ReHefs  of  the  Santa  Casa. 

"  No  more  lamentable  proof  of  the  great  inferiority  of  Tuscan  sculp- 
ture during  the  first  thirty  yeai'S  of  the  sixteenth  century  to  that  of  the 
fifteenth,  is  to  be  found,  than  these  elaborate  works,  which  contain  not  a 
trace  of  that  exquisite  taste  and  sentiment  which  marked  the  works  of 
earlier  masters.  Those  finished  by  Sansovino  are  indeed  far  better  than 
the  rest,  but  even  they  in  no  wise  deserve  the  praises  which  have  been 
heaped  upon  them. 

"  The  group  of  angels  floating  over  the  bed  of  the  Madoniia,  in  the 
relief  which  represents  her  death,  is  the  only  really  pleasing  piece  of 
work  in  the  whole  series.  The  bas-relief  was  designed  and  commenced 
by  .Sansovino,  and  terminated  by  Domenico  Aimo,  surnamed  '  11  Bolog- 
nese ';  as  were  the  Birtli  and  Marriage  of  the  Virgin,  and  the  Adoration, 
with  the  help  of  Bandinelli,  Tribolo,  and  Montelupo." — Perkins'  Tuscan 
Sculptors. 

In  the  \st  Chapel,  on  the  right  of  the  entrance,  is  the 
beautiful  bronze  Font,  covered  with  rehefs  by  Vercelli  and 
Vitali. 

"  Over- richly  decorated,  its  ornamental  details  exhibit  various  gro- 
tesque elements ;  there  are,  however,  many  excellent  details  in  the 
figures,  and  the  execution  displays  the  masterly  skill  which  marks  the 
entire  school  of  Recanati.  The  whole  surface  is  filled  with  figures  ;  all 
the  framework  is  covered  with  arabesques,  putti,  emblems,  festoons,  and 
volutes.  The  general  effect  is  overloaded,  but  the  whole  is  finished  with 
the  most  miniature-like  delicacy." — Liibke. 

Inscriptions  in  different  languages  along  the  nave  tell  the 
story  of  the  "  Miraculous  origin  and  translation  of  our 
Blessed  Lady  of  Loreto."     That  in  English  is  as  follows  : — 

"The  church  of  Loreto  was  a  chamber  of  the  house  of  the  B.  V.  nigh 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  SANTA  CASA.  409 

Hierusalem  in  the  citty  of  Nazareth,  in  which  she  was  bom  and  bred, 
and  saluted  by  the  Angel  and  therein  conceaved  &  brought  up  her 
Sonne  Jesus  to  the  age  of  twelue  yeares.  This  chamber,  after  the 
ascension  of  our  Saviour,  was  by  the  Apostles  consecrated  into  a 
church  in  honour  of  our  B.  Lady,  and  S.  Luke  made  a  picture  to  her 
likeness  extant  therein  to  be  scene  at  this  very  day.  It  was  frequented 
with  great  devotion  by  the  people  of  the  country  where  it  stood  whilst 
they  were  Catholicks,  but  when  leaving  the  faith  of  Christ  they  followed 
the  sect  of  Mahomet,  the  Angels  took  it,  and  carrying  it  into  Sclavonia, 
placed  it  by  a  town  called  Flumen,  where  not  being  had  in  due 
reverence,  they  again  transported  it  over  sea  to  a  wood  in  the  terrtiory 
of  Recanati,  belonging  to  a  noble  woman  called  Loreta,  from  whom  it 
first  took  the  name  of  our  B.  Lady  of  Loreto,  and  thence  again  they 
carried  it,  by  reason  of  the  many  robberies  committed,  to  a  mountain  of 
two  brothers  in  the  said  territory  ;  and  from  thence  finally,  in  respect  of 
their  disagreement  about  the  gifts  and  offerings,  to  the  coihon  high  way 
not  far  distant,  where  it  now  remains  without  foundation,  famous  for 
many  signes,  graces  and  miracles,  wherat  the  inhabitants  of  Recanati, 
who  often  came  to  see  it,  much  wondring,  environed  it  with  a  strong 
and  thick  wall,  yet  could  noe.man  tel  whence  it  came  originally,  til  in 
the  yeare  M.cc.xc.  vi  the  B.  V.  appeared  in  sleep  to  a  holy  devout 
man.  to  whom  she  revealed  it,  and  he  divulged  it  to  others  of  authority 
in  this  province,  who  determining  forthwith  to  try  the  truth  of  the  vision, 
resolved  to  choose  xvi  men  of  credit,  who  to  that  effect  should  go  all 
together  to  the  citty  of  Nazareth,  as  they  did  carrying  with  them  the 
measure  of  this  church,  and  comparing  it  there  with  the  foundation  yet 
remnat  they  found  them  wholy  agreable,  and  in  a  wall  thereby  ingraven 
that  it  had  stood  there,  and  had  left  the  place,  which  done,  they 
presently  returning  back,  published  the  premisses  to  be  true,  and  from 
that  time  forewards  it  hath  byn  certainly  known,  that  this  church  was 
the  chamber  of  the  B.  V.  to  which  Christians  begun  then  and  have 
ever  since  had  great  devotio,  for  that  in  it  daily  she  hath  donne  and 
doth  many  and  many  miracles.  One  Friar  Pavi  de  Silva,  an  eniiit  of 
great  sanctity,  who  lived  in  a  cottage  nigh  unto  this  church,  whither 
daily  he  went  to  matins,  said,  that  for  ten  years  space,  on  the  viii  of 
September,  two  hours  before  day,  he  saw  a  light  descend  from  heaven 
upon  it,  which  he  said  was  the  B.  V.  who  there  showed  herself  on  the 
feast  of  her  nativity.  In  confirmation  of  which  two  vertuous  men  of  the 
said  citty  of  Recanati  divers  times  declared  unto  mee  Prefect  of  Terreman 
and  Governor  of  the  forenamed  church,  as  followeth.  The  one  cal'd 
Paul  Renalduci  avouched  that  his  grandfathers  grandfather  sawe  when 
the  angels  brought  it  over  sea,  and  placed  it  in  the  forementioned  wood, 


4IO  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

and  had  often  visited  it  there,  the  other  called  Francis  Prior,  in  like 
sort  affirmed,  that  his  grandfather,  being  cxx  yeares  old,  had  also  much 
frequented  it  in  the  same  place,  and  for  a  further  proof,  that  it  had  byn 
there,  he  reported  that  his  grandfathers  grandfather  had  a  house  nigh 
unto  it,  wherin  he  dwelt,  and  that  in  his  time  it  was  carried  by  the 
Angels  from  thence  to  the  mountain  of  the  two  brothers  where  they 
placed  it  as  abovesaid. 

By  order  of  the  Right  Reverend  I,  Robert  Corbington,  Priest  of 

Monsignor  Vincent  Cassal  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  the  yeare 
Bolonia,  Governor  of  this  holy  mdcxxxiv  have  faithfully  trans- 
place,  under  the  protection  of  the  lated  the  premisses  out  of  the 
most  Reverend  Cardinal  Moroni.  Latin  original  hung  upon  the  said 

Church. 

To  the  honor  of  the  ever  glorious  Virgin, 

From  the  Left  Transept  we  enter  the  Sacristy,  which 
contains  a  few  pictures,  including  : — 

Coreggio.     Virgin  and  Child. 
Ghirlandajo.     Virgin  and  Child. 

From  hence  we  enter  the  Treasury  (entrance  \  fr.  except 
on  Sundays).  Its  ceiling  and  the  Crucifixion  over  the  altar 
are  by  Pomerancio.  The  objects  in  the  glass  cases  round 
the  room  include  gifts  to  the  Virgin  from  most  of  the 
European  potentates.  Best  deserving  of  notice  are  a  crystal 
crucifix  from  Charles  IV.  of  Spain;  chalices  from  Pius  VII., 
VIII.,  IX. ;  a  banner  won  at  Lepanto;  and  a  pea'^l  which  was 
a  gift  a  poor  fisherman  saved  up  his  money  to  present,  when 
he  found  one  miraculously  engraved  with  the  image  of  the 
Virgin  of  Loreto  ! 

The  Cupola,  built  by  Antonio  da  Sangallo,  was  adorned 
with  frescoes  by  Roncalli.  There  are  no  especial  objects  in 
the  church  deserving  mention,  unless  we  except  a  kneeling 
bronze  figure  of  Cardinal  Gaetani,  by  Calcagni  zxA  Giacometti. 


THE  PALAZZO  APOSTOLICO. 


411 


The  chapels  are  for  the  most    part  adorned  with  mosaic 
copies  from  the  pictures  of  the  great  masters. 

The  Palazzo  Apostolico  (now  Reale)  was  begun  by  Julius 
II.  in  1510,  from  designs  oi  Bramante,  and  was  finished  by 
A.  Sansovino  and  Antonio  Sangallo.  It  has  a  Picture 
Gallery,  containing  little  worth  notice.  The  best  pictures 
are  : — 

Titian.     The  Woman  taken  in  Adultery. 

Vouet.     The  Last  Supper. 

Guercino.     The  Deposition. 

Ann.  Caracci.     The  Nativity  of  the  Virgin. 

On  the  first  floor  of  the  Palace,  removed  from  the 
Spezieria,  is  the  splendid  collection  of  380  Majolica  pots, 


Loreto,  from  the  Recanati  road. 


executed  by  Orazio  Fontana  da  Urbino,  Battista  Franco, 
and  others.  They  were  given  by  Francesco  Maria  II., 
Duke  of  Urbino,  and  are  of  the  most  enormous  value,  and 
glorious  in  colour  and  design.  In  looking  at  these  and  other 
so-called  specimens  of  so-called  "  Raffaeile  ware,"  it  should 
be  remembered  that  the  designs,  exhibiting  the  taste  of  the 


412  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

great  master,  were  all  painted  at  least  twenty  years  after  his 
death.  The  fact  that  some  of  them  were  finished  by 
Raffaellino  da  Colle  has  given  rise,  from  a  confusion  of 
names,  to  the  idea  that  Raffaelle  Sanzio  assisted  in  them. 

There  is  not  much  more  to  see  in  Loreto,  but  pleasant 
walks  may  be  taken  on  the  adjoining  heights,  and  the  walls 
of  Sixtus  v.,  with  their  massive  bastion  towers,  are  highly 
picturesque.  The  best  general  view  of  the  place  is  about  a 
mile  from  the  town  on  the  Recanati  road,  whence  it  is  seen 
grandly  backed  by  the  heights  of  Monte  Conero. 


lo  min.  more  by  rail  will  bring  us  from  Loreto  to  Porto 
Recanati  (stat.),  whence  Recanati  is  about  4  m.  distant,  but 
it  will  be  better  to  engage  a  carriage  (4  frs.)  from  Loreto, 
whence  it  is  only  5  m.,  to  Recatiati  (^Inn.  Corona),  an 
interesting  old  town,  with  much  curious  work  in  terra-cotta 
on  its  buildings.  In  the  side-porch  of  the  Cathedral  of  S. 
Flaviano  is  the  monument  of  Pope  Gregory  XIL,  who  laid 
aside  the  papal  tiara  at  the  Council  of  Constance,  and  died 
here  as  legate  of  the  March  of  Ancona  in  141 7.  In  the 
Sacristy  is  a  Madonna  by  Ludovico  da  S.  Sez'erino,  1463. 
Between  the  choir  and  the  sacristy  is  an  altar-piece  in  many 
compartments  by  Lorenzo  Lotto. 

On  the  Palazzo  Comunale  is  a  bronze  relief  by  Giacometti 
representing  the  arrival  of  the  Santa  Casa.  The  diploma  of 
Frederick  II.,  "  Dei  Gratia  Romanorum  Imperator,"  confer- 
ring its  port  upon  the  town,  is  preserved  here.  Recanati  is 
the  birth-place  (1798)  of  the  poet  Count  Leopardi,  who  died 
in  1837  :  there  is  a  monument  to  him  in  the  piazza.  From 
the  promenade  on  the  old  walls  there  is  a  beautiful  view. 


MAC ER  AT  A. 


413 


Recanati  was  long  a  separate  State  under  the  protection  of 
the  Popes,  having  its  authority  vested  in  a  council  of  200 
citizens,  of  whom  97  were  nobles. 


A  carriage  may  be  taken  from  Recanati  to  Macerata, 
which  may  also  be  reached  by  Diligence  from  the  Railway 
Station  of  Civitanova. 

The  hill-set  Macerata  {Inns.  La  Face;  Postd)  is  one  of 
the  most  flourishing  towns  in  this  part  of  Italy.  It  has 
magnificent  views  of  the  sea  and  over  the  valley  of  the 


Macerata. 


Potenza  and  Chienti.  Its  handsome  palaces,  for  the  most 
part  built  of  brick,  are  only  inhabited  in  summer.  The 
Cathedral  cox\\.di\ns  an  Altar-piece  hy  Alegretto  Nuzt,  1359, 
of  the  Madonna  with  22  saints;  in  the  niches  SB.  Anthony 


414  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

and  Julian.  In  the  Church  of  S.  Giovanni  is  an  Assump- 
tion by  Lanfranco.  The  walls  were  built  by  Cardinal 
Albornoz  :  the  Porta  Pia  by  Cardinal  Pius. 

I  m.  from  the  town  is  the  Church  of  La  Madonna  della 
Vergine,  a  Greek  cross  by  Bratnante.  There  is  an  enormous 
Amphitheatre  for  the  game  of  Pallone,  which  is  very  popular 
here. 

"The  peasants  seem  here  to  observe  a  fixt  uniform  in  dress,  and 
orange  is  the  prevailing  colour.  So  constant  are  the  women  of  this  class 
to  local  costume,  that  the  female  head  becomes  a  kind  of  geographical 
index.  At  Macerata  they  adhere  to  the  ancient  mode  of  plaiting  and 
coiling  the  hair,  vs^hich  they  transfix  with  long  silver  wires  tipped  at  both 
ends  with  large  nobs.  At  Recanati,  they  hang  golden  bells  to  their 
ear-rings,  three  or  five  to  each  chime,  jingling  like  the  crotalia  of  the 
Roman  matrons.  At  Loretto,  they  adjust  the  handkerchief  to  their 
heads  in  the  style  of  their  Madonna.  All  the  young  men  bind  their  hair 
in  coloured  nets,  which  is  an  old  imitation  of  female  attire,  and,  as  such, 
was  severely  censured  by  Juvenal." — Forsyth. 

(26  m.  from  Macerata,  and  5  m.  from  the  sea,  is  the  hill- 
set  town  of  Fermo,  the  Finnum  Picenum  of  the  Romans, 
1 1 16  ft.  above  the  sea.  It  is  a  poverty-stricken  town,  but  is 
crowned  by  a  rocky  platform  on  which  stands  the  mediaeval 
Cathedral  {xnodexmzQd  within),  from  the  front  of  which  there 
is  a  most  glorious  view  of  the  coast  and  sea.  It  was  the 
natural  fortifications  of  this  rock  which  in  the  Middle  Ages 
caused  Fermo  to  be  regarded  as  the  strongest  place  in  all  the 
Marches,  and  gave  rise  to  the  proverb — 

"Quando  Fermo  vuol  fermare 
Tutta  la  Marca  fa  tremare." 

The  platform  was  formerly  occupied  by  a  castle,  which 
was  seized  by  a  series  of  tyrants,  who  ruled  the  inhabitants 
from  thence,  till  they  prudently  razed  it  to  the  ground  in 


FERMO.  415 

1447.  The  porch,  a  sort  of  west  end  ante-chapel  to  the 
cathedral,  contains  a  number  of  curious  sepulchral  monu- 
ments, including  a  very  fine  one  of  a  member  of  the  Vis- 
conti  family,  inscribed,  "  Tura  de  Imola  fecit  hoc  opus." 

In  the  Church  of  S.  Francesco  is  the  tomb  of  Ludovico 
EufFreducci,  sculptured  by  Sansovino  in  1530,  This  family 
first  rose  to  wealth  in  the  person  of  Tommaso,  a  famous 
physician,  who  died  in  1403.  His  great-great-grandson 
Oliverotto  was  sent  to  study  the  art  of  war  under  Paolo 
Vitelli,  and  gained  the  reputation  of  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful soldiers  of  the  day.  When  he  returned  to  Fermo,  he 
caused  his  uncle  and  adopted  father  Giovanni  Fogliani, 
together  with  all  the  principal  citizens,  to  be  murdered  at  a 
banquet  which  they  gave  in  his  honour,  and  riding  to  the 
Palazzo  Pubblico  at  the  head  of  his  men,  proclaimed  himself 
Lord  of  Fermo,  a  position  which  he  maintained  till  he  was 
murdered  himself  by  Cesare  Borgia,  Dec.  31,  1502,  at  the 
famous  banquet  of  Sinigaglia.  It  is  this  Oliverotto  who  was 
selected  by  Machiavelli  as  a  model  tyrant  in  "  II  Principe." 
On  the  murder  of  Oliverotto  his  sister-in-law  fled  vdth  her 
infant  son  to  the  protection  of  her  own  family,  the  Baglioni  of 
Perugia.  In  15 14  he  returned  to  Fermo  and  gained  a  tem- 
porary popularity  by  defending  the  city  against  the  Duke  of 
Urbino,  but  having  murdered  Bartolommeo  Brancadoro,  the 
head  of  a  rival  family,  was  declared  an  outlaw.  Leo  X.  sent  out 
against  him  Niccolb  Bonafede,  the  fighting  Bishop  of  Chiusi. 
Lodovico  was  mortally  wounded,  and  the  bishop,  equally 
prepared  for  office  of  soldier  or  priest,  immediately  dis- 
mounted, heard  his  confession,  absolved  him,  and  received 
his  dying  breath.  It  is  one  of  the  most  characteristic  anec- 
dotes of  16th-century  warfare.) 


4i6 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


About  28  m.  from  Macerata  is  the  mediaeval  town  of 
Tolentino  [Inn.  Corona),  occupying  the  site  of  the  Tolentinum 
Picenum  of  the  Romans.  The  road  thither  passes  "  // 
Castello  delta  Rancia"  where  Murat  was  defeated  by  the 
Austrians  under  Bianchi  in  May,  1815.  It  was  the  loss  of 
this  battle  which  sealed  his  fate.  There  is  much  that  is  pic- 
turesque in  the  piazza  of  Tolentino  with  its  pretty  fountain. 
The  Cathedral  of  S.  Niccotb  has  considerable  remains  of  old 
Gothic  work,  and  an  interesting  cloister.  The  Chapel  of  the 
saint  contains  his  tomb,  upon  which  the  peasants  throw  money 
through  a  grating.  There  are  frescoes  of  the  History  of  the 
Virgin  attributed  to  Lorenzo  and  J^acopo  da  San  Severino.  A 
picture  of  the  Fire  at  S.  Mark's  in  Venice  is  attributed  to 
Tintoretto.  (?) 


Cloister  of  S.  Niccol6  di  Tolentino. 


The  great  Augustinian  saint,  Nicholas  of  Tolentino,  was 
born  about  1239  at  the  little  town  of  S.  Angiolo  in  Pontano, 
near  Tolentino.     While  very  young  he  became  an  Augus- 


I 


TOLENTINO,  MATELICA.  417 

tinian  monk,  and  was  so  distinguished  by  his  austerities  that 
it  is  said  of  him  that  "  he  did  not  Hve,  but  languisJied  through 
life."  He  was  equally  celebrated  for  his  sermons.  He  died 
Sept.  10,  1306,  and  was  canonized  in  1446  by  Eugenius  IV. 
His  wonderful  sanctity  is  said  to  have  been  foretold  by  the 
appearance  of  a  star  which  rose  from  his  birth-place  at  S. 
Angiolo  and  stood  over  Tolentino,  and  from  this  legend  he 
is  usually  represented  in  art  with  a  star  upon  his  breast. 

Over  the  entrance  of  the  Palazzo  Puhblko  is  the  bust  of  the 
learned  Francesco  Filelfo,  who  was  bom  here.  Tolentino  is 
known  in  history  from  the  disgraceful  treaty  of  Tolentino  by 
which  Pius  VI.  assented  to  the  robbery  of  the  greater  part  of 
his  dominions  by  Napoleon  I. 

(At  a  little  distance  from  Tolentino  in  the  direction  of 
Fermo,  is  Urbisaglia  (Urbs  Salvia),  with  many  small  Roman 
remains. 

San  Scverlno,  about  8  m.  west  of  Tolentino,  is  the  ancient 
Decemon.  It  has  two  towns,  '  Borgo'  below  and  *  Castello' 
at  the  top  of  the  hill.  In  the  Chiesa  del  Castello  are  some 
frescoes  by  Niccolo  Alunno,  1468.  In  the  vestibule  of -S". 
Lorenzo  is  a  Madonna  by  Lorenzo  da  S.  Severino.  In  S. 
Domenico  is  a  Madonna  with  saints,  by  Bernardmo  da  Peru- 
gia. In  the  sacristy  of  the  Cathedral  is  a  good  Madonna  by 
PinturiccJm,  1 500. 

West  of  this  is  the  town  of  Matelica,  where  the  Church  of 
S.  Francesco  contains  good  pictures  by  Melozzo  da  Forli, 
Carlo  Crivelli,  and  Eusebio  da  Perugia.  In  the  same  direc- 
tion, scarcely  ever  visited  by  strangers,  is  Fabriano,  a  con- 
siderable town  containing  many  good  pictures,  especially  by 
the  native  artists  Gentile  and  Antonio  da  Fabriano. 

Hence  there  is  a  hilly  road,  by  La  Genga,  to  Sassoferrato, 
VOL.  II.  27 


4i8  ■     ITALIAN  CITIES. 

which  gave  its  name  to  the  painter  Giambattista  SaIvi—\6o^ 
— 1:685 — one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  followers  of  the 
Caracci.  Several  of  his  works  and  many  other  good  pic- 
tures remain  in  the  churches  of  the  town.) 

From  Tolentino  a  dreary  Apennine  road  leads  by  Valci- 
mara  and  La  Muccia  to  Foligno.  A  road  from  La  Muccia 
diverges  to  Camerino  {Inn.  Albergo  Basconi),  the  ancient  Ca- 
merinum.  Its  bishopric  dates  from  252,  when  S.  Sovino  was 
its  first  bishop.  In  has  a  University,  one  of  the  smallest  in 
Italy.  The  Cathedral  of  S.  Anino  stands  on  the  site  of  a 
temple  of  Jupiter :  the  fine  bronze  statue  of  Sixtus  V.,  in 
front  of  it,  was  erected  in  1587.  The  painter  Carlo  Maratta 
was  born  here  in  1625. 

The  gred.t  Pdlazzo  Varani,  which  abuts  on  the  city  wall, 

recalls  the  medigeval  lords  of  Camerino,  who  were  amongst 

the  worst  of  the  petty  sovereigns  of  the  Middle  Ages.    Early 

I    in  the  15th  century  Rudolfo  Varani  left  his  dominions  to  be 

;    divided  between  his  four  sons,  of  whom  two  were  by  his  first 

and  two  by  his  second  wife.     These  four  brothers  were  sum- 

;  moned  to  a  conference  on  business  by  Giovanni  Vitelleschi 

\  of  Corneto,  but  only  the  two  younger  went  to  the  meeting, 

\  of  whom  Pier  Gentile  was   murdered  by  Vitelleschi,   and 

Giovanni,  escaping,  was  murdered  by  his  two  elder  brothers 

the  same  evening  at  Camerino.     In  the  next  year  Bernardo 

i  the  second  brother  was  murdered  while  walking  on  the  walls 

(  of  Tolentino,  and  shortly  after  Pandolfo  the  eldest  was  mur- 

f  dared  during  mass  in  the  Dominican  church  by  the  people, 

together  with  five  of  his  nephews  and  several  of  their  chil- 

i  dren,  the  "  brains  of  the  infants  being  dashed  out  against  the 

walls."     Only  two  infants  escaped.     Of  these,  Giulio,  car- 

^ried  off  by  his  aunt,  Tora  Trinci,  to  Fabriano,  where  some  of 


i\ 


CAMERINO.  419 

her  own  family  were  reigning,  after  a  troubled  and  adven- 
turous life  was  finally  strangled  by  a  bravo  in  the  pay  of 
Cesare  Borgia,  who  also  murdered  his  three  sons  at  La  Cat- 
tolica.  Such  were  the  vicissitudes  of  Italian  sovereignty  in 
the  Middle  Ages. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 
URBINO. 

(Urbino  is  most  easily  reached  from  the  station  of  Pesaro.  A  humble 
diligence  corresponding  with  the  first  trains  from  Ancona  and  Bologna 
leaves  the  piazza  at  9.45  A.M.,  and  takes  5  hours  on  the  way.  Each 
place  costs  5  frs.  A  one-horse  carriage  for  three  persons  will  perform 
the  distance  in  3>^  hours,  and  costs  20  frs. 

The  Albergo  Italia  at  Urbino  is  clean  and  tolerable,  with  very  low 
charges,  but  it  is  a  rough  Italian  Inn.) 

AN  uninteresting  road  leads  from  Pesaro  through  the  fruit- 
ful valley  of  the  Foglia,  to  the  foot  of  the  hill  which  is 
crested  by  the  walls  and  towers  of  Urbino.  A  handsome 
approach  by  an  excellent  road  winds  round  the  walls,  with 
grand  views  as  it  ascends.  On  the  south  is  the  Furlo, 
celebrated  for  its  pass,  and  then  the  stately  masses  of  Monte 
Nerone ;  on  the  east  the  picturesque  rocks  of  Monte  San- 
Simone ;  beyond  this  the  mountain  of  the  Falterone  where 
the  Tiber  has  its  source ;  to  the  north,  on  its  peaked  rock, 
is  S.  Marino.  On  the  highest  terrace  the  road  passes 
under  the  tall  pinnacled  towers  and  perfectly  colossal  walls 
of  the  Ducal  Palace. 

The  visitor  to  Urbino  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the 
extraordinary  beauty  of  the  inhabitants,  especially  of  the 
young  men.  Humanity  flourishes  here  while  all  else  is  in 
decay. 


DUCAL  PALACE  OF  URBINO. 


421 


"  There  is  scarcely  a  house,  a  street,  or  a  church  in  Urbino  that  does 
not  now  wear  a  deserted  and  desolate  aspect  ;  even  the  grand  palace  of 
the  Dukes,  formerly  not  to  be  outshone  for  brilliancy  by  any  Court  in 
Europe,  is  tenantless  or  given  up  to  base  uses.  Yet  there  still  remain 
staircases,  galleries,  doorways,  windows,  and  fire-places,  rich  in  Raf- 
faellesque  ornaments  carved  with  a  delicacy  belonging  less  to  stone  than 
to  ivory.  It  is  by  such  details  —sometimes  a  mutilated  bas-relief,  some- 
times a  broken  arch  or  a  defaced  picture  scattered  here  and  there  about 
the  city—  that  the  traveller  must  be  content  to  spell  out  the  story  of  a 


bygone  splendour.  Even  nature  appears  to  have  fallen  into  days  of 
dejection  ;  the  vast  palace,  which  seems  ready  to  swallow  up  the  small 
city,  frowns  over  a  landscape  of  barren  grandeur ;  the  mountains  throw 
their  jagged  crags  into  the  sky  savagely,  and  when  the  sun  sinks  beneath 
the  high  peaks  which  tower  above  Cagli  and  Gubbio  the  whole  scene 
becomes  inexpressibly  solemn.  Such  was  the  cradle  of  the  shadowed 
and  sacred  school  of  Umbria.  The  spirit  of  the  spot  must  have  been 
almost  too  sad  for  Raffaelle  ;  there  is  nothing  joyous  now  remaining, 
and  we  can  well  understand  why  the  aspiring  painter  left  his  birth-place 
early  and  returned  to  it  seldom." — Saturday  Review,  March  1875. 


The  Ducal  Palace — La  Corte — is  one  of  the  noblest  works 
of  the  Renaissance.    It  was  begun  in  1447  by  the  great  Duke 


422  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Federigo  di  Montefeltro,  who  evinced  his  devotion  to  his 
native  place  by  turning  the  small  castle  which  had  previously 
existed  here  into  a  grand  palace.  For  this  purpose  he  sur- 
rounded himself  with  all  the  great  architects  and  artists  of 
the  time,  over  whom  Luciano  Lauranna  was  the  chief.  To 
make  a  platform  for  his  great  work  it  was  necessary  to  unite 
two  rocks.  The  outer  walls  and  window-frUmes  are  enriched 
with  friezes  of  most  exquisite  sculpture.  The  entrance, 
from  the  piazza  behind  the  palace,  leads  into  a  noble 
quadrangular  court,  the  work  of  Baccio  Pintelli,  1480.  It  is 
surrounded  by  inscriptions  in  honour  of  Federigo,  and  by 
colonnades,  under  which  a  collection  of  Roman  altars,  &c. 
is  arranged.  A  second  court  w^s  used  for  tournaments  and 
theatrical  displays. 

Ascending  the  staircase  on  the  left,  which  is  adorned  by  a 
statue  of  Duke  Federigo,  we  enter  vast  corridors,  the  walls 
of  which  are  now  covered  with  a  number  of  inscriptions  and 
other  fragments  collected  in  the  neighbourhood  by  Cardinal 
Stoppani.  Hence  open  a  series  of  great  halls,  with  beauti- 
ful sculptured  chimney-pieces  and  door-frames,  and  richly 
inlaid  doors.  The  letters  F.  C.  repeated  upon  the  ceiling 
of  the  principal  hall  prove  that  it  was  built  before  1474. 
The  furniture,  and  the  frescoes  of  Timoteo  Viti,  described  by 
Baldi,  have  disappeared. 

"  The  skilful  hand  of  Ambrogio  da  Milano,  none  of  whose  sculptures 
are  to  be  met  with  at  Milan,  was  employed  in  carving  trophies,  military 
emblems,  flowers,  birds,  and  children,  about  the  doors,  windows,  and 
chimney-pieces  of  the  Ducal  palace  at  Urbino.  The  utmost  elegance 
and  purity  of  taste  is  shown  in  these  decorations.  The  architrave  of 
one  of  the  fire-places  is  adorned  with  a  row  of  dancing  Cupids,  and  the 
jambs  with  reliefs  of  winged  boys  holding  vases  filled  with  growing  roses 
and  carnations,  whose  structure  and  wayward  growth  show  the  closest 
and  most  loving  study  of  Nature.     In  the  leaves,   flowers,  and  birds 


DUCAL  PALACE  OF  URBINO.  423 

colour  alone  seems  wanting  to  give  life.     Well  may  Giovanni  Santi 
eulogize  them  as — 

*  Mostrando  quanto  che  natura 
Possa  in  tal  arte.'  " 

Perkins  Ltalian  Sculptors. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  all  the  old  historical 
furniture  connected  with  the  lives  of  the  different  Dukes  and 
Duchesses,  whose  faces  are  familiar  to  us  from  the  portraits 
of  Giovarmi  Sanzio,  Piero  della  Francesca,  and  others,  should 
have  been  long  since  dispersed.  Under  the  Dukes  of  the 
house  of  Montefeltro,  Urbino  was  the  most  prosperous  of 
the  smaller  Italian  states,  and  the  most  charming  descrii> 
tions  of  their  just,  generous,  and  paternal  government  are 
left  by  the  historians  of  the  time.  Such  is  the  picture  of 
'Duke  Federigo,  as  drawn  by  Muzio  : — 

' '  In  person  Federigo  was  of  the  common  height,  well  made  and  pro- 
portioned, active  and  stout,  enduring  of  cold  and  heat,  apparently 
affected  neither  by  hunger  nor  thirst,  by  sleeplessness  nor  fatigue.  His 
expression  was  cheerful  and  frank ;  he  never  was  carried  away  by 
passion,  nor  showed  anger  unless  designedly.  His  language  was  equally 
remarkable  for  modesty  and  politeness  ;  and  such  was  his  sobriety  that, 
having  once  had  the  gout,  he  immediately  left  off  wine,  and  never  again 
returned  to  it.  His  passions  were  so  completely  under  control,  that 
even  in  earliest  youth  nothing  was  ever  alleged  against  him  inconsistent 
with  decorum  and  the  due  influence  of  his  rank.  He  was  uniformly 
courteous  and  benignant  to  those  of  private  station,  as  well  as  to  his 
equals  and  to  men  of  birth.  With  his  soldiers  he  was  ever  familiar,  calling 
them  all  friends  and  brethren,  and  often  addressing  them  as  gentlemen 
or  honoured  brothers,  whilst  he  personally  assisted  the  sick  and  wounded 
and  supplied  them  with  money.  None  such  were  excluded  from  his 
table ;  indeed,  he  caressed  and  invited  them  by  turns,  so  that  all  loved, 
honoured,  served,  and  extolled  him,  and  those  who  had  once  been 
under  his  command  were  unwilling  to  follow  any  other  leader. 

"  But  if  his  kindness  was  notable  in  the  camp,  it  was  much  more  so 
among  his  people.  While  at  Urbino,  he  daily  repaired  to  the  market- 
place, whither  the  citizens  resorted  for  gossip  and  games,  as  well  as  for 


424  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

business,  mixing  freely  with  them,  and  joining  in  discourse,  looking  on 
at  their  sports,  like  one  of  themselves,  silting  among  them,  or  leaning 
on  some  one  by  the  hand  or  arm.  If,  in  passing  through  the  town,  he 
noticed  any  one  building  a  house,  he  would  stop  to  enquire  how  the 
work  went  on,  encouraging  him  to  beautify  it,  and  offering  him  aid  if 
required,  which  he  gave  as  well  as  promised.  Should  any  answer  him, 
that  although  desirous  of  making  a  handsome  dwelling,  he  was  fmstrated 
by  the  refusal  of  some  neighbour  to  part  with  an  adjoining  hovel  at  a 
fair  price,  Federigo  sent  for  its  obstructive  owner,  and  urged  him  to 
promote  the  improvement  of  the  city,  kindly  assisting  to  arrange  a 
home  for  him  elsewhere.  On  hearing  that  a  merchant  had  suffered 
loss  in  his  business,  he  would  enter  his  shop  to  enquire  familiarly  into 
his  affairs,  and,  after  learning  the  extent  of  his  difficulties,  would 
advance  him  the  means  of  restoring  his  credit  and  trade.  Once,  meet- 
ing a  citizen  who  had  daughters  to  many,  he  said  to  him,  '  How  are 
your  family  ? — are  any  of  your  girls  disposed  of  ? ' — and,  being  answered 
that  the  father  was  ill  able  to  endow  them,  he  helped  him  with  money 
or  an  appointment,  or  set  him  in  some  way  of  bettering  himself. 
Indeed  such  instances  of  his  charity  and  sympathy  were  numberless, 
among  which  were  tlie  number  of  poor  but  talented  or  studious  children 
whom  he  educated  out  of  love  for  letters.  On  the  death  of  those  in 
his  service,  he  took  especial  interest  in  their  families,  providing  for  their 
maintenance  or  education,  or  appointing  them  to  offices,  and  continually 
enquiring  in  person  as  to  their  welfare.  When  the  people  came  forth 
to  meet  him  as  he  went  through  his  state,  receiving  him  with  festive 
demonstrations,  he  had  a  word  for  each — To  one  '  How  are  you  ? '  to 
another  '  How  is  your  old  father  ? '  or  '  Where  is  your  brother  ?  '  to  a 
third,  '  How  does  your  trade  flourish  ?  '  or  '  Have  you  got  a  wife  yet  ? ' 
One  he  took  by  the  hand,  another  he  patted  on  the  shoulder,  but  to  all 
he  uncovered  his  head,  so  that  Ottaviano  Ubertini  used  to  say,  when  any 
person  was  much  occupied,  '  Why,  you  have  more  to  do  than  Federigo's 
bonnet.'  Indeed,  he  often  told  the  Duke  that  his  cap  was  over-worked, 
hinting  that  he  ought  to  maintain  more  dignity  with  his  subjects.  As  an 
instance  of  his  courtesy  ;  one  day  when  he  was  returning  from  Fossom- 
brone  to  Urbino,  he  met  a  bride  being  escorted  to  her  husband  by  four 
citizens,  as  was  then  customary,  and  he  at  once  dismounted,  and  joined 
them  in  accompanying  her  and  sharing  in  their  festivities.  .  .  .  During  a 
year  of  great  scarcity,  in  the  distribution  of  imported  grain,  he  desired 
that  the  poor  who  could  not  pay  in  cash,  should  be  supplied  on  such 
security  as  they  could  offer.  The  distribution  took  place  in  the  court  of 
the  palace,  under  chaise  of  Comandino,  his  secretary ;  and  when  any 
poor  man  came,  representing  that,  with  a  starving  family  and  nothing 


CATHEDRAL  OF  URBINO.  4=5 

to  sell,  he  could  find  no  cautioner,  Federigo,  after  listening  from  a 
window  to  the  argument,  would  call  out,  '  Give  it  him,  Comandino,  I 
shall  become  bound  for  him.'  And  subsequently,  when  his  ministers 
wished  to  enforce  pajonent  from  the  securities,  he  in  many  instances 
prevented  them,  saying,  '  I  am  not  a  merchant ;  it  is  gain  enough  to 
have  saved  my  people  from  hunger.' 

"  Federigo  was  most  particular  in  the  performance  of  justice,  in  acts 
as  well  as  words.  His  master  of  the  household  having  obtained  large 
supplies  for  the  palace  from  a  certain  tradesman,  who  had  also  many 
courtly  creditors,  and  could  not  get  pa)Tnent,  the  latter  had  recourse  to 
the  Duke,  who  said,  'Summon  me  at  law.'  The  man  was  retiring 
with  a  shrug  of  his  shoulders,  when  his  lord  told  him  not  to  be  daunted, 
but  to  do  what  he  desired,  and  it  would  turn  out  for  his  advantage  and 
that  of  the  town.  On  his  replying  that  no  tipstaff  could  be  found  to 
risk  it,  Federigo  sent  an  order  to  one  to  do  whatever  this  merchant 
might  require  for  the  ends  of  justice.  Accordingly,  as  the  Sovereign 
issued  from  the  palace  with  his  retinue,  the  tipstaff  stood  forward,  and 
cited  him  to  appear  next  day  before  the  podesta,  on  the  complaint  of 
such-a-one.  Whereupon  he,  looking  round,  called  for  the  master  of  his 
household,  and  said,  in  presence  of  the  court,  '  Hear  you  what  this  man 
says  ?  now  give  such  instructions  as  shall  save  me  from  having  to  appear 
from  day  to  day  before  this  or  that  tribunal '  And  thus,  not  only  was 
the  man  paid,  but  his  will  was  made  clear  to  all, — that  those  who  owed 
should  pay,  without  wTonging  their  creditors. 

"  During  a  severe  winter,  the  monks  at  S.  Bernardino,  being  snowed 
up,  and  without  any  stores,  rang  their  bells  for  assistance ;  the  alarm 
reaching  Urbino,  Federigo  called  out  the  people,  and  went  at  their  head 
to  cut  a  way  and  carry  provisions  to  the  good  friars." — Trans,  in  Den- 
nistoun's  "Dukes  of  Urbino." 

Close  to  the  palace  is  the  Cathedral,  with  three  aisles  and  a 
cupola.     It  contains  : — 

Chapd  Uft  of  High  Altar.  Federigo  Baroccio  (a  native  of  Urbino), 
1528.     The  Last  Supper. 

Sacristy.  *Piero  delta  Francesca.  The  Flagellation.  The  Duke 
Odd'  Antonio  and  his  ministers,  Manfredo,  and  Tommaso  of  Rimini,  are 
reprinted  in  the  for^jound.  It  is  signed  OPVS  PETRI  DEBVR- 
GOSCI  SEPVL«I. 

Timoteo  delta  Vite.  SS.  Martin  and  Thomas  i  Becket  The  portrait 
of  Duke  Guidobaldo  is  introduced. 

The  bishopric  dates  from  313,  S.  Evandus  having  been 


4^6  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

the  ist  bishop;  in  1563  it  was  created  an  archbishopric 
by  Pius  IV. 

Opposite  the  palace,  is  the  Church  of  S.  Dotnenico,  with 
the  Virgin  and  Child,  and  four  saints  in  terra-cotta,  over  the 
door. 

The  street  to  the  right  leads  to  (right)  the  Accademia  delle 
Belle  Artt,  which  contains  a  number  of  pictures  collected 
from  churches  recently  closed.     We  may  notice  : — 

63.  Piero  delta  Francesca.     An  Architectural  study  from  S.  Chiara. 

73.   Timoteo  delta  Vite.     S.  Roch — from  S.  Francesco. 
♦76.  Giusto  da  Guanto  Qustus  of  Ghent).    The  Last  Supper.    A  very 
noble    picture    of    the    school    of    Van    Eyk :    the    Duke 
T"ederigo  and  the  Venetian  Doge  Zeno  are  introduced.     From 
S.  Agata. 

79.  Timoteo  delta  Vite.  Tobias  and  the  Angel.  The  little  Tobias, 
with  the  fish  in  one  hand,  is  running,  with  the  other  in 
that  of  the  beautiful  protecting  angel  Raphael.  From  S. 
Francesco. 
♦82.  Giovanni  Santi,  1489.  The  Virgin  and  Child  seated  in  bene- 
diction, with  the  Baptist  and  S.  Francis  on  the  left,  and  SS. 
Sebastian  and  Jerome  on  the  right.  The  family  of  Gasparo 
Buffi,  for  whom  the  picture  was  painted,  are  introduced 
kneeling.  Above  is  God  the  Father,  with  two  angels  holding 
a  crown  above  the  head  of  the  Virgin.  This  is  the  finest 
work  of  the  master.     From  S.  Francesco. 

102.  Giovanni  Santi.     A  Pieta.     From  S.  Chiara. 

103.  Giovanni  Santi.     The  Burial  of  Christ.     From  the  Convent  of 

the  Zoccolanti. 
140.    Titian.     Last  Supper.     From  S.  Francesco. 
.141.  Baroccio.     S.    Francis    receiving     the     Stigmata.      From    S. 

Francesco. 
*IS8.   Titian.    The  Resurrection.     The  Saviour  floats  upwards  most 
grandly :  two  of  the  guards,  suddenly  awakened,  gaze  in  amaze- 
ment ;  the  third  sleeps  profoundly.     From  S.  Francesco. 

Returning  to  the  lower  piazza,  we  see,  facing  us,  a 
street  so  steep  that  the  stones  are  all  set  edgeways  that  the 
mules  and  donkeys  may  climb  up  them  like  cats.     On  the 


HOUSE  OF  RAFFAELLE.  427 

left  of  this  hill-side  is  the  Casa  da  Roffaello,  marked  by  an 
inscription  : — 

"  Nunquam  moriturus  exiguis  hisce  in  sedibus  eximius  ille  pictor 
Raphael  natus  est.,  Oct.  Id.  Apr.  An  mcdxxciii.  Venerare  igitur 
hospes  nomen  et  genium  loci,  ne  mirere.  Ludit  in  humanis  divina  pote- 
tia  rebus,  et  sa;pe  in  parvis  claudere  magna  solet."* 

The  house  was  purchased  by  the  grandfather  of  the  painter 
for  240  ducats,  "a  sum  more  than  realized  in  a  business  of 
general  huckstering."  Giovanni  the  father,  who  inherited  the 
house,  only  gradually  aspired  from  the  making  of  chandeliers 
and  picture-frames  to  the  profession  of  artist,  but  his  poetry, 
though  rude,  has  much  merit,  and  the  Chronicle  of  Giovanni 
Santi,  written  to  prove  his  attachment  to  the  family  of  his 
sovereign  (and  now  preserved  in  the  Vatican  Library),  has 
furnished  most  important  materials  for  the  contemporary 
history  of  Urbino.  This  manuscript  poem  extends 
through  twenty-three  books  in  terza  rima.  In  his  dedica- 
tion Giovanni  says  that  he  "  was  early  induced  to  embrace 
the  admirable  art  of  painting,  the  difficulty  of  which,  added  to 
domestic  cares,  would  be  a  burden  even  for  the  shoulders 
of  Atlas."  His  first  wife  was  Magia  (symbolical  name 
for  such  a  mother  !),  daughter  of  Battista  Ciarla  of  Urbino, 
who  here  gave  birth,  April  6,  1483,  to  her  second  son, 
Raffaello.  Here  the  childhood  of  the  great  painter  was 
passed  amid  a  family  group  consisting  of  Giovanni  and  Magia, 
his  grandmother  Elisabetta,  his  aunt  Santa — widow  of  the 
tailor  Bartolommeo  of  Marino,  and  a  little  brother  and  sister. 
On  August  2,  1485,  Giovanni  lost  his  eldest  son  \  on  Oct.  3, 
1 49 1,  Elisabetta  died;  Magia  only  survived  her  four  days, 

•  Almighty  power  in  man's  affairs  deludes. 
And  often  mighty  things  in  mean  includes." 

Trans,  by  Dr.  Henry  Wellesley, 


428  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

and  the  little  daughter  a  few  days  longer.  All  these  events 
occurred  in  the  house.  Left  with  an  only  boy,  Giovanni 
married  again  (in  the  Church  of  S.  Agata)  in  the  following 
year,  with  Bernardina,  daughter  of  the  goldsmith  Pietro  da 
Parte,  who  had  a  dowry  of  200  florins,  and  who  proved  a 
very  harsh  stepmother  to  the  little  Kaffaelle  of  nine  years 
old.  On  August  i,  1494,  Giovanni  himself  died,  leaving 
the  boy  then  eleven,  to  the  guardianship  of  two  uncles,  who 
at  once  placed  him  in  the  school  of  Pietro  Perugino,  then 
engaged  on  the  Sala  del  Cambio  at  Perugia. 

The  interior  of  the  Casa  Santi  can  scarcely  be  changed  in 
its  arrangement  since  the  childhood  of  Raffaelle.  On  the 
ground-floor  are  the  rooms  used,  according  to  Italian  cus- 
tom, for  the  keeping  and  selling  of  goods.  On  the  first  floor, 
at  piano  nobile,  are  three  apartments  en  suite.  The  central 
of  these  is  the  largest,  and  probably  served  for  the  reception 
of  guests — a  cheerful  room,  twenty-seven  feet  square,  with  a 
brick  floor  and  pannelled  ceiling.  On  the  right  of  this  is  the 
chamber  in  which  Raffaelle  was  born,  lately  decorated  with 
furniture  of  his  time  and  prints  and  photographs  from  his 
pictures.  Here  is  a  small  fresco  of  a  golden-haired  Madonna 
and  Child  by  Giovanni  Santi,  said  to  be  a  portrait  of  his 
wife  Magia  Ciarla  and  the  infant  Raffaelle.  The  faces  are 
of  the  peculiar  type  which  may  be  recognized  in  many 
pictures  both  by  the  father  and  son.  The  room  on  the  left, 
with  a  covered  roof,  was  the  studio  of  Giovanni. 

After  his  eleventh  year,  Raffaelle  only  returned  once,  or  at 
the  outside  thrice,  to  Urbino,  and  then  for  a  very  brief  visit. 

At  the  top  of  this  street — Contrada  Raffaello — on  the 
right,  is  a  solitary  house,  which  was  that  where  Timoteo  della 
Vite  lived  and  died. 


^.  SPIRITO,  S.  FRANCESCO.  429 

He  was  one  of  the  best  of  the  contemporary  followers  of 
Raphael,  who  had  the  greatest  affection  for  him,  and  would 
willingly  always  have  retained  his  companionship  at  Rome. 
But  love  for  his  native  place,  and  affection  for  his  widowed 
mother  Calliope,  induced  Timoteo  to  return  while  quite  a 
young  man  to  Urbino,  where  he  married  Girolama  Spacioli, 
by  whom  he  had  many  children.  His  best  works  are  now 
in  the  gallery  at  Bologna  and  in  the  Brera  at  Milan.  He 
died  in  1524,  in  his  fifty-fourth  year. 

Descending  the  street,  on  the  left  a  side  street  leads  to 
the  Church  of  S.  Spirito,  which  contains  (hung  too  high  up) 
at  the  sides  of  the  high  altar,  two  pictures  by  Luca  Sig- 
norelli — the  Crucifixioh,  and  the  Descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Opposite  the  church  is  a  statue  of  Coelestine  V.  (the  hermit 
Pietro  Murrone),  who  is  claimed  as  a  native  of  Urbino. 

Descending  a  little  to  the  right  from  the  piazza,  an  alley 
on  the  right  leads  to  the  small  Church  of  S.  Giovanni  Bat- 
tista,  which  contains  an  interesting  series  of  frescoes  of  the 
history  of  the  Baptist  by  Lorenzo  di  S.  Sa'crino,  141 6,  but 
they  are  considerably  injured  by  restoration. 

The  cloisters  of  the  now  closed  Church  of  S.  Francesco 
contain  the  tomb  of  the  Dukes  Odd'  Antonio  and  Antonio 
H.,  also  of  Nicajo  the  physician,  and  of  Agostino  Santucci, 
1478.  The  church  was  built  in  memory  of  Count  Carlo 
Pianani,  ob.  1478,  and  to  contain  his  tomb  and  that  of  his 
wife  Sibilla.  For  the  high  altar  of  this  church  Giovanni 
Sanzio  painted  his  great  Madonna,  and  here  he  was  buried, 
August,  1494/  so  that  all  should  visit  this  church  for  Raphael's 
father's  sake. 

In  the  Church  of  S.  Bernardino,  about  \  m.  from  the 
town  (to  the  left  in  approaching),  are  the  black  and  white 


430  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

marble  tombs  of  Duke  Federigo  III.,  1482,  and  Duke 
Guidobaldo  I.,  1536.  In  returning  from  hence,  it  will  be 
worth  while  to  take  the  road  below  the  town  to  see  how 
finely  the  peaked  towers  and  huge  mass  of  the  castle  rise, 
with  the  dome  of  the  cathedral,  from  the  dark  houses  at 
their  feet,  beneath  which  is  a  lofty  viaduct  supported  upon 
arches. 

In  1498  the  famous  Earthenware  manufacture  was  intro- 
duced from  Gubbio  by  Giorgio  Andreoli,  and  came  to  great 
perfection  in  1538  under  Orazio  Fontana. 

"  Pungileone  cites  a  certain  potter  of  Urbino,  named  Giovanni  di 
Donino  Garducci,  in  the  year  1477,  and  a  member  of  the  same  family, 
Francesco  Garducci,  who  in  1501  received  the  commands  of  the  Cardinal 
of  Carpaccio  to  make  various  vases.  Ascanio  del  fii  Guido  is  also 
mentioned  as  working  in  1502 ;  but  the  works  of  all  these  have  dis- 
appeared, or  are  attributed  to  other  fabriques,  and  it  is  not  until  1530 
that  we  can  identify  any  of  the  artists  mentioned  by  Pungileone  : 
Federigo  di  Giannantonio  ;  Niccolo  di  Gabriele  ;  Gian  Maria  Mariani, 
who  worked  in  1530  ;  Simone  di  Antonio  Mariani  in  1542  ;  Luca  del 
fu  Bartolommeo  in  1544;  Cesare  Cari  of  Faenza,  who  painted  in  1536 
and  1551  in  the  botega  of  Guido  Merlino. 

"  The  workshop  of  Guido  Durantino  was  celebrated  in  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  About  the  same  time  flourished  the  dis- 
tinguished 'Francesco  Xanto  Avelli  di  Rovigo,'  whose  works  are  so 
well  known  and  appreciated.  Of  the  same  school  was  Niccolo  di 
Gabriele,  or  Niccolo  di  Urbino. 

"  Another  celebrated  painter  of  Majolica  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  was  Orazio  Fontana,  originally  of  Castel  Durante,  whose  family 
name  appears  to  have  been  Pellipario." — Chaffers. 

The  hills  around  Urbino  are  peculiarly  bare,  brown,  and 
featureless,  except  during  their  short  summer.  Altogether, 
perhaps,  Urbino  presents  more  forcibly  the  appearance  of 
fallen  grandeur  than  any  place  in  Italy,  and  here,  more 
than  elsewhere,  the  Italian  ^/^if/j  the  words  of  Leopardi : — 

"  O  patria  mia,  vedo  le  mura,  e  gli  archi, 
E  le  colonne,  e  i  simulacri,  e  I'erme 


URBANIA.  431 


Torri  degli  avi  nostri, 
Ma  la  gloria  non  vedo." 


(About  13  m.  east  on  the  road  to  Citta  di  Castello  is  the 
small  city  of  Urbania.  Till  1635  it  bore  the  name  of  Castel 
Durante,  as  which  it  was  (1444)  the  birth-place  of  the  cele- 
brated architect  Bramante,  and  the  seat  of  a  famous  manu- 
factory of  Majolica.) 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

GUBBIO. 

(Gubbio  may  be  most  easily  reached  from  the  Station  of  Fossato  on 
the  line  between  Ancona  and  Foligno.  There,  a  wretched  diligence,  2 
frs.,  meets  the  early  trains,  and  performs  the  distance  to  Gubbio  in  3 
hrs.  ;  a  carriage  costs  10  frs.  and  takes  only  2  hrs.  ;  the  price  must  be 
arranged'  beforehand. 

Gubbio  may  also  be  reached  from  Urbino  by  the  Furlo  Pass.  A 
carriage  costs  40  frs.  and  takes  about  1 2  hrs. 

The  Leone  (TOro  at  Gubbio  is  a  bearable,  but  very  rough  inn  :  charges 
exceedingly  moderate.) 

LEAVING  Urbino,  an  excellent  road  descends  the 
valley  of  the  Metaunis  to  the  mouth  of  the  celebrated 
Furlo  Pass.  This  is  the  most  striking  point  in  the  Apennines. 
Tremendous  precipices  of  grey  rock  hem  in  the  river,  just 
leaving  room  for  the  road,  which  is  the  Via  Flaminia,  to  creep 
through,  except  where  it  passes  through  a  tunnel  made  under 
Vespasian  (37  metres  long,  5^  broad,  4^  high).  From  the 
perforation  or  Forulus  here,  the  name  Furlo  is  derived. 
Procopius  describes  the  spot  as  Petra  Pe/iusa,  and  Claudian 
sings  :— 

"  Qua  mons  arte  patens  vivo  se  perforat  arcu, 
Admittitque  viam  sectee  per  vicera  rupis." — vi.  C<ms.  Hon.  500. 

So  Steep  is  the  rock  above  the  road  that  in  wet  seasons  it 
is  dangerous  to  pass  this  way,  and  several  crosses  by  the 
wayside  commemorate  the  fate  of  travellers  who  have  been 


PASS  OF  THE  FURLO. 


433 


crushed  by  the  falling  rocks.  Here  is  //  Monte  d'Asdrubale, 
where  the  sanguinary  battle  was  fought  B.C.  207  between 
the  Romans  and  Carthaginians,  in  which  Hasdrubal,  the 
brother  of  Hannibal,  perished. 


Pass  of  the  Furlo. 


"  Carthagini  jam  non  ego  nuntios 
Mittam  superbos  :  occidit,  occidit 
Spes  omnis,  et  fortuna  nostri 
Nominis,  Asdrubale  interempto." — Horace,  iv.  Od.  4. 

The  road  crosses  a  curious  old  Roman  bridge  called 
Po7iie  Manlio,  just  before  entering  the  rich  little  city  of 
Cagli,  which  has  a  piazza  with  a  fountain  and  Palazzo 
Communale.  Close  by  is  the  Cathedral,  rebuilt  by  PiusVL, 
after  its  destruction  by  earthquake  in  178 1. 

The  Church  of  S.  Domeidco  contains  : — 

vol-    II.  28 


^J4  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Lift,  2nd  Chapel  (of  the  Tiranni  family).  Gioranni  Sanzio,  an 
important  work  (ordered  by  Pietro  Tiranni).  The  Virgin  is  seated  on 
a  throne  in  a  niche,  which  may  be  observed  as  an  especial  characteristic 
of  Sanzio.  On  her  knees  is  the  Child,  at  the  sides  of  the  throne  two 
angels.  That  on  the  left  with  some  reason  is  said  to  be  the  portrait  of 
Raffaelle,  then  nine  years  old,  and  who,  with  his  stepmother,  had 
accompanied  his  father  to  Cagli.  On  one  side  are  SS.  Francis  and 
Peter,  on  the  other  SS.  Dominic  and  J.  Baptist.  In  the  background, 
on  a  mountain,  are  little  figures  representing  the  Resurrection.  Above, 
in  a  medallion,  is  God  the  Father  in  benediction. 

At  the  side  is  the  tomb  of  Battista,  wife  of  Pietro  Tiranni,  with  a 
Pieta  between  SS.  Jerome  and  Buonaventura,  a  fresco  hastily  painted, 
but  the  head  of  Christ  very  noble ;  it  is  inscribed  Baptistae  Conjugi 
Pientissimse  Petrus  Calliensis  salutem  deprecatur  Anno  MCCCLXXXi  (sic) . 

Right,  2nd  Altar.     Fra  Carnevale.     Tlie  Annunciation. 

The  Church  of  S.  Francesco  contains  a  number  of  small 
frescoes  by  Guido  Palmerucci,  a  Madonna  and  Child  with 
Saints  by  Baroccio,  and  a  Madonna  and  Child  enthroned,  by 
Gaetano  Lapis  da  Cagli. 

A  most  dreary  road  leads  from  Cagli  across  a  succession 
of  hill-passes  towards  Gubbio.  Just  as  it  descends  to  the 
town  the  scenery  becomes  fine  and  the  city  gate  is  entered 
after  a  deep  descent  through  an  extraordinary  narrow  gully 
hemmed  in  by  the  perpendicular  precipices  of  Monte 
Calvo. 

Gubbio  is  a  beautiful  place.  Close  under  the  steep 
mountain-side,  upon  which  its  churches  and  palaces  rise  in 
terraces,  it  stands  between  the  arid  desolation  of  the  moun- 
tains and  the  rich  luxuriance  of  a  fruitful  and  fertile  plain. 
Cypresses  break  the  gloom  of  its  old  brown  houses,  and, 
above  them,  high  against  the  mountain-side  stands  the 
beautiful  Gothic  Palazzo,  del  Consule,  with  the  remains  of  the 
old  Ducal  Palace  on  a  higher  level  still.     The  lower  town 


GUBBIO. 


43S 


ends  in  the  wide  Piazza  Vittorio  Emanuele,  on  one  side  of 
which  is  the  Church  of  S.  Francesco*  containing: — 

Choir.     Francesco  Signorelli.     The  Conception. 


Gubbio. 

In  the  upper  town  two  long  streets  run  parallel  with  one 
another  along  the  ledges  of  the  hill.  The  lower  of  these 
ends  in  a  Statue  of  S.  Ubaldo.  Close  by,  behind  the  Church 
of  S.  Trinitk,  is  a  Virgin  and  Child  enthroned,  by  Martino 
Nello.  Outside  the  opposite  gate,  is  the  Church  of  S.  Agos- 
iino,  which  contains  : — 

Left,  T^rd  Altar.     Ottaviano  Nelli.     La  Madonna  del  Soccorso. 
Right,  2nd  Altar.     School  of  Nelli.     Madonna  with  saints,  angels, 
and  the  souls  in  purgatory. 

*  S.  Francis  was  often  at  Gubbio.  His  story  tells  that  a  wolf  who  had  long 
ravaged  the  neighbourhood,  was  rebuked  by  S.  Francis,  who  promised  it  a  peaceful 
existence  and  daily  food  if  it  would  amend  its  ways.  The  wolf  agreed  to  the  com- 
pact, and  placed  his  right  paw  in  the  hand  of  S.  Francis  in  token  of  good  faith. 
"  Brother  Wolf,"  as  S.  Francis  called  him,  Hved  afterwards  for  two  years  tamely  at 
Gubbio  in  good  fellowship  with  all,  and  finally  died,  much  regretted,  of  old  age. 


436  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Turning  into  the  upper  street,  we  find  on  the  left,  the 
humble  Church  of  S.  Maria  Nuova,  which  is,  in  spite  of 
white-wash,  a  sort  of  museum  of  local  art.  Where  the 
plaster  has  been  scraped  away,  fragments  are  shown  of 
beautiful  frescoes  by  Bernardino  Na7ini  and  Pintali.  On 
the  Ifft  is  S.  Antonio  by  Guido  Palmerticci. 

Now,  on  the  right,  comes  the  Palazzo  Comufiale,  con- 
nected by  a  line  of  terraced  wall  with  the  noble  Palazzo 
del  Consule.  They  were  formerly  united  by  an  open  loggia, 
which  has  been  recently  destroyed  to  suit  the  whim  of  the 
Marchese  Brancaleoni,  the  view  from  whose  palace  was 
injured  by  it.  On  the  upper  side,  the  Palazzo  del  Consule 
is  entered  by  an  arched  staircase  and  grand  Romanesque 
gateway  beautiful  in  colour.  From  its  platform  is  a 
lovely  view.  The  campaniles  and  convents  rise  from  the 
silvery  mists  of  the  town  against  the  delicate  green  of  the 
plain  and  the  faint  mountain  distances.  Over  the  door  is 
an  inscription  saying  that  the  building  was  begun  in  1332, 
and  that  when  that  stone  was  placed  there  it  was  Oct.  1335. 
It  leads  into  an  immense  hall,  containing  a  good  early  fresco 
of  the  Virgin  and  Child  with  saints.  On  the  upper  floor  is 
a  second  hall  with  a  coved  roof,  and  a  fountain  in  its  centre  ; 
at  the  side  is  a  sculptured  lava-mano ;  on  the  cornice  of  the 
door  is  inscribed  "  Concordia  Parvae  Res  Crescunt."  This 
palace  was  built  for  Duke  Federigo,  probably,  from  its  re- 
still  surrounded  with  inlaid  panels.  The  inscription  FL. 
DVX  and  G.  BALDO.  DX  in  the  wood  prove  that  their 
semblance  to  Urbino,  by  Luciano  Lauranna.  One  room  is 
decorations  were  only  completed  under  Duke  Guidobaldo, 
after  1482. 

Above  the  palace  is  the  small  Cathedral  of  SS.  Mariano 


LA  CORTE.  437 

and  Giacomo,  a  single  nave  spanned  by  a  long  succession  of 
very  simple  Gothic  arches.     It  contains  : — 

Left,  1st  Chapel.  Sinibaldo  Ibi,  1507.  The  Madonna  between  SS. 
Sebastian  and  Ubaldo. 

T^rd  Chapel.  Timoteo  della  Vite,  1521.  The  Story  of  S.  Mary 
Magdalen. 

Last  Chapel.  Orlando  da  Perugia.  The  Nativity — almost  identical 
with  the  Perugino  of  S.  Agostino  at  Perugia. 

Close  to  the  cathedral  are  the  mutilated  remains  of  the 
Ducal  Palace— ^^  La  Corte  " — built  for  the  great  Duke 
Federigo,  though  whether  by  Francesco  di  Giorgio  or 
Baccio  Pontelli  is  unknown.  The  mountain  rises  immedi- 
ately behind  it,  and  it  stands  so  perched  on  its  rocky  edge, 
that  the  paths  which  approach  it  must  always  have  been 
precipitous,  as  they  are  still,  but  the  workmanship  of  the 
doors  and  windows,  which  are  all  of  marble,  is  most  ex- 
quisite. Duke  Federigo's  private  cabinet  is  decorated  with 
intarsia  work,  in  which  the  Garter  with  its  motto,  "  Honi 
soit  q.  mal  i  pense,"  is  the  central  ornament,*  having  been 
given  to  the  Duke  by  Edward  IV.  of  England. 

In  this  palace  Federigo  di  Montefeltro  lost  his  beloved 
wife  Battista,  who  is  represented  with  him  at  Florence  in  the 
pictures  of  Piero  della  Francesca.  Celebrated  for  her  learn- 
ing, in  her  twentieth  year  she  had  pronounced  an  extempore 
Latin  address  to  Pius  II.  and  the  princes  and  ambassadors 
with  him  at  Milan.  She  died  July  6,  1472,  aged  26,  six 
months  after  giving  birth  to  a  son  after  eight  daughters. 
Odisio  says  that  she  did  not  hesitate  to  offer  her  own  life  in 
return  for  the  gift  of  a  son  worthy  of  his  father.  She  saw  in 
a  dream  a  lovely  phoenix  perched  upon  a  lofty  tree,  which, 

*  This  was  lately  offered  for  sale,  and  has  perhaps  already  disappeared. 


438  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

after  sitting  there  for  thirty-six  days,  winged  its  flight  heaven- 
ward till  it  touched  the  sun  and  then  disappeared  in  flames. 
On  hearing  of  her  dangerous  illness,  her  husband  left  the 
command  of  the  Florentine  armies,  but  only  arrived  in  time 
to  see  her  expire.  She  embraced  her  lord  for  the  last  time, 
caused  her  infant  son  to  be  placed  in  his  arms,  and  then,  in 
the  words  of  Giovanni  Sanzio  : — 

"  Chiuse  quel  santo,  onesto  e  grave  ciglic, 
Rendendo  I'alma  al  cielo  divotamente. 
Libera  e  sciolta  dal  mondan  periglio." 

Muzio  says — "  her  death  dissolved  the  most  honoured, 
fitting,  and  congruous  union  of  that  or  any  other  age." 

Among  the  other  churches  we  may  notice  -S.  Domenico, 
in  the  lower  town,  which  contains : — 

Left,  2fid  Altar.  Tomasuccio  Nelli  (brother  of  Ottaviano).  S. 
Vincenzo. 

I^t,  ^h  Altar.     Giorgio  Andreoli.     S.  Antonio — a  terra-cotta  statue. 

Kight,  2)fd  Altar.  Raffadlino  da  Colle,  1546.  Madonna  and 
angels. 

The  famous  Etigubine  Tables  have  so  often  been  moved 
backwards  and  forwards  between  S.  Pietro  and  the  Palazzo 
Communale  that  one  cannot  say  where  they  may  be  found 
another  year.  They  are  of  bronze.  Their  language,  their 
intention,  and  their  importance,  has  afforded  endless  dis- 
cussion and  amusement  to  antiquaries.  Of  the  inscriptions 
with  which  they  are  covered,  four  are  in  Umbrian,  two  in 
Latin,  and  one  in  Etruscan  and  Latin  characters.  They  were 
found  in  1444,  in  a  subterraneous  chamber  at  La  Schieggia, 
near  Gubbio  (Iguvium-Jovium,  the  city  of  Jupiter).  On  the 
highest  part  of  the  town  a  temple  of  Jupiter  Apenninus  was 
once  situated. 


A  VELLANA.  439 

Outside  the  walls  are  some  trifling  remains  of  an  ancient 
Theatre  and  other  buildings. 

(Gubbio  is  perhaps  the  best  point  from  which  to  make 
the  pilgrimage  to  the  famous  Monastery  of  Avellana,  at  one 
time  the  retreat  of  Dante,  and  where  his  chamber  is  still 
shown.  It  is  situated  in  the  wildest  part  of  the  Apennines 
under  the  mountain  called  Catria.  Dante  speaks  of  the 
Solitude  made  for  prayer  under  the  projection  of  the 
Apennines  which  is  called  Catria.) 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

PISA. 

(Hotels.  Hotel  de  Londres,  near  the  railway  station,  excellent,  with  a 
pleasant  garden,  and  country  aspect ;  La  Minerva.  On  the  Lung'  Amo, 
and  much  nearer  the  siglits  ;  Peverada  ;  Vittoria  ;  Gran  Brctagna.  All 
the  hotels  are  very  good.  At  those  on  the  Lung'  Amo,  Pension  is 
about  8  frs.  a  day.     A  sunny  room  in  winter  is  quite  essential  at  Pisa. 

Restaurant,  Nettuno.     Lung'  Arno,  west  of  the  Ponte  di  Mezzo. 

Carriages.  The  course,  45  c,  2  horses,  70  c.  ;  to  and  from  the 
station,  63  c.  and  85  c.  ;  1st  hour,  i  fr.  10  c.  and  i  fr.  70  c,  each  hour 
after  85  c.  and  i  fr.  15  c. 

English  Church,  behind  the  Palazzo  Reale,  which  faces  the  Lung' 
Amo.) 

MANY  travellers  only  go  over  to  Pisa  for  a  day  from 
Florence  or  Leghorn.*  Those,  however,  who  have 
even  a  superficial  interest  in  art  will  find  this  far  too  short  a 
time  to  bestow  upon  a  place  which,  next  to  Assisi,  is  the 
chief  sanctuary  of  early  Italian  painting.  When  the  one 
beautiful  group  of  buildings  around  the  cathedral  has  been 
examined,  the  effect  of  what  Landor  calls — 

" — the  towers 
Of  Pisa,  pining  o'er  her  desert  stream, " 

will,  upon  the  passing  traveller,  be  only  one  of  gloom  and 
depression. 

"  Pisa  is  celebrated  for  its  leaning  tower,  and  for  its  mild  winter  air. 
•  For  the  railway  from  Genoa  to  Pisa  see  chap.  iii. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  nSA.  441 

But  it  strikes  me  as  a  hospital,  where  nothing  flourishes  but  misery  ! 
The  sky  is  grey,  the  earth  is  grey,  the  city  is  grey,  the  Arno  is  grey,  and 
the  quays  along  the  rivers  are  crowded  with  beggars,  young  and  old.  .  .  . 
Happy  they  who  have  no  necessity  to  live  here  on  account  of  the  mild 
winter  air  !  Mild  it  is  certainly,  but  mild  as  unsalted  water-gruel.  The 
city  itself  has  a  sickly,  dying  or  dead  appearance.  It  is,  in  fact,  merely 
the  corpse  of  the  formerly  powerful  Pisa,  the  head  of  an  independent 
republic." — Fredrika  Bremer. 

The  soft  climate  of  Pisa  has  a  wonderful  soothing  effect 
upon  complaints  of  the  chest,  but  it  is  horribly  wet. 

"  Mezzo  dormendo  ancor  domando  :  Piove  ? 
Tutta  la  intera  notte  egli  e  piovuto. 
Sia  maladetta  Pisa  !  ognor  ripiove  ; 
Anzi,  a  dir  meglio,  e'  non  \.  mai  spiovuto  . 

Alfieri,  Son.  cxxxiv. 

Those,  however,  who  stay  here  long  enough,  will  find  that 
in  fine  weather  there  is  a  great  deal  to  be  learnt  and  much  to 
be  enjoyed  in  the  quiet  streets,  and  on  the  sunny  Lung'  Arno, 
which  retains  much  of  beauty,  though  scarcely  enough  to 
enable  one  to  conjure  up  the  picture  which  Ruskin  has 
painted  of  its  appearance  in  the  time  of  Nino  Pisano. 

"  Fancy  what  was  the  scene  which  presented  itself,  in  his  afternoon 
walk,  to  a  designer  of  the  Gothic  school  of  Pisa — Nino  Pisano,  or  any  of 
his  men. 

•'  On  each  side  of  a  bright  river  he  saw  rise  a  line  of  brighter  palaces, 
arched  and  pillared,  and  inlaid  with  deep  red  porphyry,  and  with  ser- 
pentine ;  along  the  quays  before  their  gates  were  riding  troops  of  knights, 
noble  in  face  and  form,  dazzling  in  crest  and  shield  ;  horse  and  man  one 
labyrinth  of  quaint  colour  and  gleaming  light— the  purple,  and  silver, 
and  scarlet  fringes  flowing  over  the  strong  limbs  and  clashing  mail,  like 
sea  waves  over  rocks  at  sunset.  Opening  on  each  side  from  the  river 
were  gardens,  courts,  and  cloisters  ;  long  successions  of  white  pillars 
among  wreaths  of  vine  ;  leaping  of  fountains  through  beds  of  pome- 
granate and  orange  :  and  still  along  the  garden  paths,  and  under  and 
through  the  crimson  of  the  pomegranate  shadows,  moving  slowly,  groups 
of  the  fairest  women  Italy  ever  saw— fairest,  because  purest  and 
thoughtfullest ;  trained  in  all  high  knowledge,  as  in  all  courteous  art— 


4+2  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

in  dance,  in  song,  in  sweet  wit,  in  lofty  learning,  in  loftier  couri^e,  ill 
loftiest  love — able  alike  to  cheer,  to  enchant,  or  save,  the  souls  of  men. 
Above  all  this  scenery  of  perfect  human  life,  rose  dome  and  bell-tower, 
burning  with  white  alabaster  and  gold  :  beyond  dome  and  bell-tower  the 
sloiDes  of  mighty  hills,  hoary  with  olive ;  far  in  the  north,  above  a  purple 
sea  of  peaks  of  solemn  Apennine,  the  clear,  sharp-cloven  Carrara 
mountains  sent  up  their  steadfast  flames  of  marble  summit  into  amber 
sky  ;  the  great  sea  itself,  scorching  with  expanse  of  light,  stretching  from 
their  feet  to  the  Gorgonian  Isles  ;  and  over  all  these,  ever  present,  near  or 
far^seen  through  the  leaves  of  the  vine,  or  imaged  with  all  its  march  of 
clouds  in  the  Arno's  stream,  or  set  with  its  depth  of  blue  close  against 
the  golden  hair  and  burning  cheek  of  lady  and  knight,— that  untroubled 
and  sacred  sky,  which  was  to  all  men,  in  those  days  of  innocent  faith, 
indeed  the  unquestioned  abode  of  spirits,  as  the  earth  was  of  men ;  and 
which  opened  straight  through  its  gates  of  cloud  and  veils  of  dew  into 
the  awfulness  of  the  eternal  world  ; — a  heaven  in  which  every  cloud  that 
passed  was  literally  the  chariot  of  an  angel,  and  every  ray  of  its  evening 
and  morning  streamed  from  the  throne  of  God." — The  Two  Paths. 

To  see  the  Lung'  Arno  of  Pisa  in  perfection,  one  should 
be  at  Pisa  on  the  festival  of  La  Luminara,  which  takes  place 
every  three  years  on  the  1 7th  of  June,  the  vigil  of  S.  RanierO 
the  patron  saint.  Then,  every  building  and  boat  is  mapped 
out  in  fire,  and  the  reflections  in  the  still  river  produce  a 
scene  from  fairy-land. 

Pisa — "  vituperio  delle  genti " — rival  of  Florence  in  arts 
and  arms,  was,  in  its  origin,  one  of  the  most  ancient  cities  of 
Etniria,  One  tradition  ascribes  its  foundation  to  Pelops,* 
another  to  the  followers  of  Nestor  in  their  wanderings  after 
the  fall  of  Troy.t  In  the  time  of  the  Empire  its  port  was  of 
great  importance  to  Rome,  and  carried  on  a  considerable 
trade  in  timber  and  marble. 

"  The  proud  mart  of  Pisa, 

Queen  of  the  western  wavfes, 
Where  ride  Massilia's  triremes. 
Heavy  with  fair-haired  slaves."  J 

•  Pliuy,  iii.  5,  s.  8.  f  Strabo,  v.  22a.  J  Macaulay's  Lays. 


HISTORY  OF  PISA.  443 

"  Pisa  was  in  the  eleventh  century  what  Venice  became  long  after,  the 
bulwark  of  Christendom  against  the  Moslem.  No  power  took  a  more 
active  share  in  the  real  crusades  against  the  infidel,  and  Pisa,  unlike 
Venice,  was  free  from  any  share  in  that  mock  crusade  which  overthrew 
the  Roman  Empire  of  the  East,  and  paved  the  way  for  the  coming  of  the 
Ottoman  into  Europe.  But  Pisa,  like  the  Christians  of  the  far  East  and 
of  the  far  West,  was  already  a  crusading  power  before  crusades  were 
preached  to  Western  Christendom  at  large.  The  maritime  common- 
wealth did  what  emperors  and  kings  had  failed  to  do,  and  won  back  the 
great  island  of  Sardinia  from  the  Saracen.  Within  that,  her  insular  realm, 
Pisa  had  judges  and  even  kings  to  her  vassals,  and,  when  her  episcopal 
church  was  raised  to  metropolitan  rank,  the  land  which  she  had  won 
back  for  Christendom  was  fittingly  made  part  of  the  new  ecclesiastical 
province.  W^ith  the  Saracens  of  Spain,  of  Africa,  and  of  Sicily,  the  war- 
fare of  the  Republic  was  never-ceasing,  and  it  was  a  warfare  in  whicl^ 
the  Republic  had  as  often  to  defend  its  own  homes  as  to  invade  those  of 
the  misbelievers.  The  alternations  of  the  struggle  are  well  marked  in 
the  meagre  entries  of  the  national  chronicle  : — 

"  Anno  1005.    '  Fuit  capta  Pisa  a  Saracenis.' 

"  Anno  1006.  '  Pisani  devicerunt  Saracenos  ad  Regium  die  Sancti 
Sixti.' 

"Anno  1012.  'Stolus  Saracenorum  de  Hispania  venit  Pisas  et  de- 
struxit  eas.' 

"  Later  on,  in  1035,  and  1050,  and  1075,  we  read  how  the  Pisan  fleets 
took  Bona,  what  the  chronicler  is  pleased  to  call  Carthage,  how  they 
drove  back  a  Saracen  prince  who  had  again  established  himself  in  Sar- 
dinia, and  how,  after  each  victory,  the  loyal  commonwealth — Ghibeline, 
before  Guelf  and  Ghibeline  were  heard  of — dutifully  sent  the  crown  of 
the  vanquished  prince  to  the  Emperor.  At  last,  in  1063,  we  come  to 
the  entry  which  may  still  be  read  on  the  front  of  the  pile  whose  founda- 
tion it  records  : — 

"  Anno  1063.  '  Pisani  fuerunt  Panormum  et  fractis  catenis  potus  civi- 
tatem  ipsam  ceperunt,  ibique  sex  naves  ditissimes  ceperunt,  Saracenis 
plurimis  interfectis,  et  combusserunt  naves  quinque  ;  unam  Pisas  duxe- 
runt  mirabili  thesauro  plenam,  de  quo  thesauro  eodem  anno  majotem 
Pisanam  ecclesiam  incoeperunt. ' 

"  These  entries  set  before  us  the  loftier  character  of  the  Pisan  common- 
wealth, at  once  maritime,  crusading,  and  imperialist  ;  but  they  are 
mixed  up  with  other  entries  pointing  to  the  causes  which  in  the  end 
brought  the  commonwealth  to  its  fall.  Mixed  up  with  the  records  of  the 
great  strife  with  the  Infidel  are  the  records  of  the  local  warfare  by  land 
with  Luca,   and  by  sea  with  Genoa.     The  never-ending  rivalry  with 


444  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Genoa  led  in  the  thirteenth  century  to  the  two  sea-fights  of  Meloria — the 
first  where  the  Ghibeline  commonweaUh  made  prey  of  the  prelates 
bound  for  the  Papal  Council,  the  other  that  crushing  overthrow  in 
which  history,  as  commonly  read,  sees  the  main  cause  of  the  downfall  of 
the  commonwealth.  But  perhaps  a  single  defeat,  however  overwhelming 
for  the  moment,  could  not  have  cnished  Pisa  for  ever,  had  not  physical 
causes  already  determined  that  maritime  rule  was  to  pass  away  from  the 
city  of  the  Amo.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  history  of  Pisa,  when  forced 
to  struggle  on  as  a  purely  inland  Power,  is  a  sad  contrast  to  the  earlier 
days  of  her  naval  greatness.  At  one  moment  the  stern  tyrant  of  Lucca, 
at  another  the  oppressed  bondslave  of  Florence,  engulfed  at  last  in  the 
common  humiliation  of  Medicean  dominion,  chosen  on  account  of  her 
desolation  as  the  theatre  of  an  Qicumenical  Council,  twice  only  do  the 
fortunes  of  Pisa  call  forth  any  real  interest  or  sympathy.  The  Ghibeline 
city,  true  to  her  old  faith,  wakes  with  life  as  the  Csesar  from  Liizelberg, 
the  last  real  restorer  of  the  Empire,  comes  to  do  honour  to  her  loyalty, 
and  at  fast  to  lay  his  dust  within  her  mighty  temple.  She  wakes  again 
to  a  yet  truer  life  in  the  last  struggle  with  the  revived  democracy  of 
Florence,  so  zealous  for  freedom  for  herself,  so  chary  of  letting  others 
share  with  her  in  the  gift.  But  at  last,  after  the  death  of  Henry  the 
Seventh,  the  old  Pisan  commonwealth  must  be  reckoned  among  the 
things  that  have  passed  away  for  ever." — Freetnan. 

As  most  travellers  do  not  visit  Pisa,  but  only  one  comer 
of  Pisa,  we  will  proceed  at  once  (by  the  new  road  and  the 
Ponte  Solferino — turning  at  once  to  the  left  on  entering  the 
gate)  to  the  north-west  angle  of  the  town — the  Piazza  del 
Duomo. 

"  II  y  a  deux  Pises  :  I'une  ou  Ton  s'est  ennuye  et  ou  Ton  a  vivote  pro- 
vincialement  depuis  la  decadence  ;  c'est  toute  la  ville,  moins  un  coin 
ecarte  :  1' autre  est  ce  coin,  sepulchre  de  marbre,  oil  le  Dome,  le  Bap- 
tistere,  la  Tour  penchee,  le  Campo  Santo,  reposent  silencieusement 
comme  de  belles  creatures  mortes.  La  veritable  Pise  est  Ik,  et  dans  ces 
reliques  d'une  vie  eteinte  ou  apper9oit  un  monde. " — Taine. 

"  If  many  a  noble  monument  is  gone. 
That  said  how  glorious  in  her  day  she  was. 
There  is  a  sacred  place  within  her  walls. 
Sacred  and  silent,  save  when  they  that  die 
Come  there  to  rest,  and  they  that  live,  to  pray, 


THE  SIGHTS  OF  PISA.  445 

For  then  are  voices  heard,  crying  to  God, 
Where  yet  remain,  apart  from  all  things  else, 
Four,  such  as  nowhere  on  the  earth  are  seen 
Assembled  ;  and  at  even,  when  the  sun 
Sinks  in  the  west,  and  in  the  east  the  moon 
As  slowly  rises,  her  great  round  displaying 
Over  a  city  now  so  desolate — 
Such  is  the  grandeur,  such  the  solitude, 
Such  their  dominion  in  that  solemn  hour, 
We  stand  and  gaze,  and  wonder  where  we  are, 
In  this  world  or  another." — Rogers. 

"  The  gravity  of  Pisa  pervades  every  street,  but  its  magnificence  is 
now  confined  to  one  sacred  corner.  There  stand  the  Cathedral,  the  Bap- 
tistery, the  Leaning  Tower,  and  the  Campo-Santo ;  all  built  of  the  same 
marble,  all  varieties  of  the  same  architecture,  all  venerable  with  years, 
and  fortunate  both  in  their  society  and  their  solitude." — Forsyth. 

' '  The  group  of  buildings  clustered  in  and  about  this  verdant  carpet, 
comprising  the  Tower,  the  Baptistery,  the  Cathedral,  and  the  Campo- 
Santo,  is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  and  beautiful  in  the  whole  world  ; 
and  from  being  clustered  there,  together,  away  from  the  ordinary  trans- 
actions and  details  of  the  town,  they  have  a  singularly  venerable  and 
impressive  character.  It  is  the  architectural  essence  of  a  rich  old  city, 
with  all  its  common  life  and  common  habitations  pressed  out  and  filtered 
away. 

"  Sismondi  compares  the  Tower  to  the  usual  pictorial  representations, 
in  children's  books,  of  the  Tower  of  Babel.  It  is  a  happy  simile,  and 
conveys  a  better  idea  of  the  building  than  chapters  of  laboured  descrip- 
tion. Nothing  can  exceed  the  grace  and  lightness  of  the  structure ; 
nothing  can  be  more  remarkable  than  the  general  appearance.  In  the 
course  of  the  ascent  to  the  top  (which  is  by  an  easy  staircase),  the  in- 
clination is  not  very  apparent ;  but,  at  the  summit,  it  becomes  so,  and 
gives  one  the  sensation  of  being  in  a  ship  that  has  heeled  over  through 
the  action  of  an  ebb-tide.  The  effect  upon  the  low  side,  so  to  speak, 
looking  over  from  the  gallery,  and  seeing  the  shaft  recede  to  its  base — is 
very  startling  ;  and  I  saw  a  nervous  traveller  hold  on  to  the  Tower  in- 
voluntarily, after  glancing  down,  as  if  he  had  some  idea  of  propping  it  up. 
The  view  within,  from  the  ground — looking  up  as  through  a  slanted 
tube — is  also  very  curious.  It  certainly  inclines  as  much  as  the  most 
sanguine  tourist  could  desire.  The  natural  impulse  of  ninety-nine  people 
out  of  a  hundred,  who  were  about  to  recline  upon  the  grass  below  it,  to 
rest,  and  contemplate  the  adjacent  buildings,  would  probably  be,  not  to 


446  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

take  up  their  position  under  the  leaning  side  ;  it  is  so  very  much  aslant. " 
— Dickens. 

Let  US  first  turn  to  the  Campanile,  the  famous  Leaning 
Tower,  which  is  quite  as  beautiful  as  it  is  extraordinary.  It 
was  begun  in  1x74  by  Bonnano  Pisano  and  William  of  Inn- 
spruck,  and  is  built  entirely  of  white  marble.  The  founda- 
tions having  been  made  insufficiently  solid,  before  it  had 
been  carried  to  one-third  of  its  height,  it  began  to  incline. 
The  masonry  was  then  strengthened  by  iron  clamps,  which 
preserve  the  tower  from  falling,  because,  though  it  leans  13 
feet  from  the  perpendicular,  the  centre  of  gravity  is  still 
within  the  base.  293  steps  of  white  marble  lead  to  the  top 
of  the  tower,  whence  there  is  an  interesting  view  over  the 
town  and  country.  The  sensation  of  falling  over  is  very 
curious  and  unpleasant.* 

"The  tower  of  Pisa  may  claim  to  be  the  noblest  tower  of  Southern 
Romanesque.  The  round  form  doubtless  comes  from  Ravenna ;  but  the 
Pisan  tower  is  a  Ravenna  tower  glorified.  At  Ravenna,  as  in  East- 
Anglia,  the  round  form  may  have  been  adopted,  in  order  to  avoid  quoins 
in  a  building  of  brick  or  flint.  At  Pisa,  as  in  Ireland,  the  fonn  was 
chosen  out  of  deliberate  preference.  And  the  preference  was  a  wise  one. 
The  square  form  could  hardly  have  borne  the  endless  ranges  of  arcade 
upon  arcade,  which  perfectly  suit  the  shape  of  the  Pisan  campanile,  and 
which  make  it  one  of  the  noblest  works  of  human  skill." — Freeman. 

The  Cathedral  yiZiS  begun  in  1064  by  the  architect  Bus- 
chetto  ("  Busketus "),  and  consecrated  in  11 18,  by  Pope 
Gelasius  II. 

"  Long  celebrated  for  her  maritime  achievements  against  the  Saracens 
in  Sicily  and  on  the  coasts  of  Africa,  Pisa  added,  in  1063,  a  still  brighter 
leaf  to  her  chaplet  by  bursting  the  chain  of  the  port  of  Palermo,  captur- 
ing six  vessels  laden  with  rich  merchandise,  and  bringing  them  home  in 

*  Those  who  ascend  must  be  careful  not  really  to  fall  over,  as  the  railing  at  the  top 
is  not  continuous,  and  very  misguiding. 


CATHEDARL  OF  PISA.  447 

triumph  to  her  native  Amo.  By  a  unanimous  decree  the  citizens  deter- 
mined to  convert  this  booty  into  a  cathedral,  to  surpass  all  others  in  size 
and  beauty,  and  to  be  at  once  a  thank-offering  to  heaven,  and  a  perpetual 
monument  to  their  country's  honour.  Everything  was  propitious — the 
hour  was  ready  with  its  man,  the  architect  Buschetto,  from  whose  master- 
mind the  plan  would  seem  to  have  sprung  forth  at  once,  complete,  clear, 
and  beautiful,  like  wisdom  from  the  head  of  Jupiter ;  the  first  stone  was 
laid  that  same  year,  and  the  building  was  completed  before  the  close  of 
the  century,  after  becoming,  long  ere  it  was  finished,  the  model  of  archi- 
tecture throughout  the  Pisan  archbishopric." — Lindsay's  Christian  Art. 

It  is  a  I^atin  cross  with  a  cupola  at  the  meeting  of  the 
nave  and  transepts.  The  whole  is  of  marble,  chiefly  white, 
which  has  taken  the  most  beautiful  soft  creamy  tint  with 
time.  The  fagade  is  adorned  with  58  pillars,  arranged  in 
five  tiers  under  a  gable.  The  original  bronze  doors  of  Bon- 
nano  Pisano  at  the  west  end  were  destroyed  by  fire  in  1596, 
and  those  which  now  exist  are  the  work  of  Giovanni  da 
Bologna  of  1602.  The  central  door  represents  the  History 
of  the  Virgin,  those  at  the  sides  the  History  of  our  Lord. 
The  mosaics  in  the  lunettes  are  modern.  The  door  of  the 
south  transept,  called  La  Crociera  di  S.  jRaniero,  escaped 
the  fire,  and  dates  from  the  12th  century,  and  is  probably  by 
Bonnano.  It  is  covered  with' reliefs  from  the  Gospel  history. 
By  the  side  of  this  door  is  an  ancient  inscription  to  Beatrice, 
mother  of  the  celebrated  countess  Matilda. 

"The  work  of  Buschetto  shows  that  he  had  thoughtfully  studied  all 
the  forms  of  architecture  which  had  arisen  in  his  age.  The  apse  and  the 
west  front,  if  they  stood  at  Lucca,  would  simply  be  remarked  as  the 
greatest  among  many  kindred  works.  But  the  ground  plan  and  the 
design  of  the  interior  introduces  us  to  something  which,  in  its  fulness,  has 
no  parallel  at  Lucca,  at  Ravenna,  or  any  other  city.  We  see  plainly  the 
influence  of  the  basilica,  but  we  see  no  less  the  influence  of  the  domical 
churches  of  Constantinople  and  Venice  ;  we  see  also,  we  venture  to  think, 
the  influence  of  the  mosques  of  Palermo,  and  of  the  churches,  if  not  of 
Northern  Europe,  at  least  of  Northern  Italy.  From  the  East  came  the 
central  cupola,  from  the  North  we  cannot  but  think  came  the  spreading 


448  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

transepts;  and  these  two  features  Buschetto  strove  to  work  into  har- 
mony with  the  central  body,  whose  general  design  was  to  be  that  of  the 
most  gigantic  of  basilicas,  but  not  without  touches  which  must  have  come 
from  a  northern  source.  S.  Sophia,  S.  Vital,  and  S.  Mark  had  no  long- 
drawn  nave ;  the  basilicas  had  no  central  cupola  ;  the  church  of  Pisa  was 
to  have  both.  The  attempt  was  not  wholly  successful.  Nothing  can  be 
more  glorious  than  the  Pisan  interior  lying  directly  east  and  west ;  the 
long  ranges  of  mighty  columns,  the  double  aisles,  all  leading  on  to  the 
vast  mosaic  which  looks  down  from  over  the  high  altar.  The  general 
effect  is  that  of  a  basilica,  the  noblest  of  basilicas.  But  to  this  effect  the 
cupola  and  the  transepts  are  sacrificed  ;  they  are  denied  their  proper 
prominence,  while  they  have  prominence  enough  to  disturb  in  some 
degree  the  perfect  basilican  ideal.  The  architect  was  evidently  afraid  to 
break  in  on  the  direct  eastern  and  western  range  by  giving  the  cupola  its 
proper  support  constructive  and  asthetical.  We  miss  the  four  great 
lantern  arches  which  should  form  a  main  feature  in  any  church  which 
has  a  central  cupola  or  tower  of  any  form.  The  cupola  is,  as  it  were, 
thrust  in  so  as  to  interrupt  the  direct  view  as  little  as  may  be  ;  its  sup- 
ports are  thrown  into  the  background  ;  its  scale  is  insignificant,  and 
instead  of  the  round  resting  on  the  square,  its  form  is  that  of  an  awkward 
ellipse.  For  the  same  reason,  not  to  interrupt  the  direct  range,  perhaps 
also  with  some  memory  of  the  tribunes  of  S.  Mark,  the  arcades  are 
carried,  though  with  some  change  of  designs,  across  the  opening  of  the 
transepts.  The  transepts  are  thus  cut  off  from  the  main  body  of  the 
building  in  a  way  which  is  most  unusual,  but  which  appears  again,  where 
we  should  not  have  looked  for  any  especial  likeness  to  Pisa,  in  the  two 
great  churches  of  Strasburg. 

"The  Duomo  has  then  some  manifest  faults,  but  the  merits  of  the 
building  far  outshine  its  defects.  The  arcades  are  the  very  glory  of  the 
basilican  idea,  and  they  carry,  what  is  not  to  be  seen  at  Ravenna  or 
Lucca,  a  real  triforium.  The  form  of  a  northern  triforium  is  here  skil- 
fully translated  into  language.  It  is  made  flat ;  there  is  no  recessing  ; 
ornament  is  sought  for,  in  the  Italian  fashion,  by  alternation  of  colours. 
The  arcades  and  triforium  are  worked  well  together ;  but  the  architect 
was  less  successful  with  his  clerestory,  which  still  remains  disjointed, 
with  a  gap  between  itself  and  the  triforium,  just  as  we  see  over  the 
arcades  of  the  basilicas  from  which  the  triforium  is  absent.  The  double 
aisles,  as  ever,  help  to  heighten  the  feeling  of  vastness  and  infinity.  And 
moreover  to  bring  their  arches  to  the  level  of  the  main  arcades,  they  are 
given  the  pointed  form.  Let  no  one  think  that  this  is  a  sign  of  approach- 
ing Gothic.  The  pointed  form  is  here  the  tribute  of  the  vanquished 
Saracen,  as  in  the  triforium  and  the  transepts  we  have  the  contribution 
of  the  Norman  ally." — Freeman. 


CATHEDRAL  OF  PISA.  449 

The  Interior 'v',  311  feet  in  length,  and  237  feet  wide  at 
the  transepts.  The  harmonious  majesty  of  all  its  details  give 
it  an  appearance  of  much  greater  magnitude.  The  nave  has 
five  aisles.  The  24  pillars  of  the  central  aisle  were  brought 
from  the  islands  of  Giglio  and  Elba  ;  those  at  the  sides  were 
evidently  collected  from  ancient  buildings,  and,  in  most  cases, 
retain  their  ancient  capitals  and  bases.  The  roof  of  the 
central  nave  is  flat  and  of  wood,  but  the  side  aisles  are 
vaulted.  A  hundred  windows,  chiefly  of  stained  glass,  pour 
a  dim  light  through  the  solemn  colonnades. 

"  How  beautiful  do  columns  become  when  they  support  a  roof!  how 
superior  to  their  effect  as  an  idle  decoration  !  what  variety  in  these,  still 
changing  their  combinations  as  you  pace  along  the  aisles  !  how  finely  do 
their  shafts  of  oriental  granite  harmonize  with  the  grandeur  of  the  pile, 
while  their  tone  of  colour  deepens  the  sombre  which  prevails  here  in 
spite  of  a  hundred  windows  \  " — Forsytfu 

Making  the  round  of  the  church,  beginning  at  the  great 
west  door,  we  see  : — 

Right.  Tomb  of  Archbishop  Matteo  Rinucini,  1582,  by  Pietro  Tacca, 
a  pupil  of  John  of  Bologna. 

Beyond  the  next  door.  A  remnant  of  a  fresco  attributed  to  Bernardo 
Nello  Falcone.     Tomb  of  Archbishop  Francesco  Frosini,  1718. 

2nd  Altar.     Panni,  1601.     The  Disputa. 

Behind  the  Pulpit  (Altar  of  the  Madonna  delle  Grazie).  Andrea  del 
Sarto  (finished  by  Sogliari).  Madonna  with  SS.  Francis,  Bartholomew, 
and  Jerome. 

The  Pulpit  is  a  restoration  of  1607  from  the  pulpit  of  Giov^anni  Pisano, 
destroyed  in  the  fire  of  1596.  Three  small  statues  of  the  Evangelists 
by  Giovanni  remain  and  are  introduced  in  the  present  pulpit,  which  rests 
upon  noble  lions.  On  a  neighbouring  pillar  is  a  beautiful  picture  of 
S.  Agnes,  by  Andrea  del  Sarto,  enchanting  in  colour  and  expression. 
The  head  is  that  of  the  painter's  wife.  Against  the  opposite  column 
hangs  a  Madonna  with  saints,  by  Pierino  del  Vaga. 

Right  Transept.  1st  Altar  {right).  Pierino  del  Vaga,  Madonna  and 
saints. 

VOL.   II.  29 


4SO  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  Chapel  of  S.  Raniero  is  from  designs  of  the  Sienese  Lino.  TTie 
mosaic  (very  high  above)  of  the  Madonna  enthroned  is  by  Gaddo  Gaddi, 
1312.  The.  tomb  of  S.  Raniero,  of  Verde  di  Volsevera,  on  a  granite 
pedestal,  is  by  Foggini.  On  the  right  is  an  antique  statue,  called  S. 
Potitus,  on  the  left  S.  Ephesus,  by  Lo7-enzi  il  Cavaliere.  Raniero, 
Potitus,  and  Ephesus,  are  the  special  saints  of  Pisa.  We  shall  make 
acquaintance  with  them  at  the  Campo-Santo. 

Beyond  the  south  door.  Altar  of  S.  Biagio  (S.  Blaise)  by  Stagi  da 
Pietrasanta  ;  the  statue  of  the  Saint  by  Tribolo. 

Entrance  of  Choir.     Two  bronze  angels  by  Giov.  da  Bologna. 

Choir.  The  enclosure  of  the  high  altar  has  six  reliefs,  of  which  four  are 
hy  Era  Gugliehno  Agnelli ;  the  two  in  the  centre  are  modem.  On  either 
side  of  the  Archbishop's  thrones  are  pictures  by  Andrea  del  Sarto,  .SS. 
Peter,  J.  Baptist,  Margaret,  and  Catherine,  which,  together  with  the 
beautiful  S.  Agnes,  once  formed  an  altar-piece.  The  bronze  Crucifix  over 
the  high  altar  is  by  Giov.  da  Bologna.  Two  porphyry  pillars  have  rich 
renaissance  capitals  by  .^fagi  and  Foggino.  One  supports  a  bronze  angel 
with  a  candlestick  by  Staldo  Lorenzi,  the  other  a  porphyry  vase  which 
was  brought  back  from  the  first  Crusade. 

The  Tribune  retains  in  three  tiers  some  of  the  frescoes  uninjured  by 
the  fire.  By  Beccafumi  are,  SS.  Matthew  and  Mark,  the  Punishment 
of  Korah,  and  Moses  breaking  the  Tables  of  Stone.  By  Sodoma,  the 
Sacrifice  of  Isaac  and  the  Deposition  from  the  Cross.  In  the  upper  tier, 
by  Salimbeni,  Moses  in  the  Wilderness,  and,  by  Beccafumi,  SS.  Luke 
and  John.  In  the  centre  of  the  apse  is  the  great  mosaic  of  Christ 
(enthroned)  in  benediction  or  majesty,  between  the  Virgin  and  S.  John, 
from  designs  of  Cimabue  (1240 — 1302),  his  last  and  greatest  work — the 
figure  of  the  Virgin  is  by  Piceno  da  Pistoia  added  after  the  death  of 
Cimabue.  The  frescoes  on  the  arch,  of  the  tribune  are  the  first  works  of 
Dom.  Ghirlandajo. 

Near  the  entrance  to  the  Sacristy,  is  the  Byzantine  picture  called  La 
Madonna  sotto  gli  Organi,  which  was  carried  in  procession  when  Charles 
VIII.  of  France  declared  the  freedom  of  Pisa  from  the  yoke  of  Florence. 

Over  the  Sacristy  door.  A  relief  of  the  Last  Judgment  by  Giouamii 
Pisano. 

Left  Transept.  The  tomb  of  Cardinal  Francesco  d'Elci,  1742.  Then 
the  Cappella  del  Sacramento,  decorated  by  Stagi  and  Mosca.  The 
mosaic  of  the  Annunciation  is  by  Gaddo  Gaddi. 

In  the  middle  of  the  Church  hangs  the  beautiful  bronze  lamp  of 
Vicenzo  Posenti,  generally  called  Galileds  Latnp,  because  it  is  supposed 
to  have  suggested  to  him  the  movement  of  the  Pendulum.  The  bronze 
statuettes  of  the  Saviour  and  the  Baptist  on  the  holy-water  basons  are 
by  Giov.  da  Bologna. 


BAPTISTERY  OF  PISA.  451 

Many  of  the  pictures,  unimportant  in  themselves,  have  an  interest 
here  as  representing  the  story  of  S.  Torpe  or  Torpet,  who  was  patron 
of  Pisa  till  he  was  superseded  by  S.  Raniero.  He  was  martyred,  May 
17,  A.D.  70.     S.  Tropez  near  Marseilles  is  called  from  him. 

"  The  old  Pisan  chronicle  relates,  that  in  a  frightful  dearth  caused  by 
the  want  of  rain,  the  bed  of  the  Arno  being  completely  dry,  the  head  of 
St.  Torpe  was  carried  in  grand  procession  through  the  city  ;  and  such 
was  the  efficacy  of  his  intercession,  that  a  sudden  flood  descending  from 
the  mountains  not  only  overflowed  the  banks  of  the  river,  but  swept 
away  part  of  the  pious  procession,  and  with  it  the  head  of  the  saint. 
The  people  were  in  despair  ;  but  lo  !  two  angels  appeared  to  the  rescue, 
dived  under  the  waves,  and  brought  up  the  head,  which  they  restored 
to  the  hands  of  the  archbishop." — Jameson's  Sacred  Art. 

The  Baptistery  was  begun  in  1152  by  Diotisalvi,  as  is 
shown  by  an  inscription  upon  the  first  pillar  on  the  right. 
It  rises,  from  a  platform  of  three  steps,  a  circular  temple  of 
white  marble  slightly  inlaid  with  blue,  a  fashion  probably  of 
Saracenic  origin.  It  has  three  stories.  The  second  story,  which 
has  60  pillars,  was  built  by  the  free-will  offerings  of  34,000 
families,  who  each  contributed  one  soldo  d'oro.  The  third 
story  has  20  windows,  which  give  the  building  its  principal 
light.  The  cupola,  the  height  of  which  is  102  feet  from  the 
pavement,  is  surmounted  by  a  statue  of  S.  Raniero.  The 
doors  are  richly  ornamented  with  reliefs  from  the  history  of 
Christ,  the  Baptist,  &c. 

In  the  centre  of  the  building  stands  the  marble  font  for 
immersion,  and  beside  it  a  pillar  with  a  statue  of  the 
Baptist,  of  the  school  of  Baccio  Bandinelli. 

The  Pulpit  of  c.  1260,  is  a  master-piece  of  Niccotb  PisanOy 
and  is  inscribed,  under  the  relief  of  the  Last  Judgment : — 

"Anno  milleno  bis  centum  bisque  triceno, 
Hoc  opus  insigne  sculpsit  Nicola  Pisanus, 
Laudetur  digne  tam  bene  docta  manus." 

**  In  its  form  it  is  hexagonal ;  six  Corinthian  columns  support  it ;  and 


452  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

five  of  its  compartments  are  enriched  with  bas-reliefs  of  surpassing  beauty 
and  interest.  The  subjects  are  the  Nativity, — the  Adoration  of  the 
Magi, — the  Presentation  in  the  Temple, — the  Crucifixion, — and  the 
Last  Judgment.  This  last,  though  the  least  successful  of  the  five,  attests 
the  spirited  efforts  of  Niccolo  to  delineate  the  nude,  and  to  catch  the  in- 
spiration of  the  antique  models.  The  Adoration  of  the  Magi  is  one  of 
the  finest  of  the  compartments.  In  this  charming  composition  the  female 
figure  on  the  sarcophagus  (the  tomb  of  the  Countess  Beatrice)  in  the 
Campo-Santo  became  to  him  the  model  for  a  graceful  conception  of  the 
Virgin  Mary  ;  and  the  attitudes,  costumes,  and  draperies  of  this  and  of 
the  accompanying  figures,  are  such  as  almost  to  anticipate  some  of  the 
best  qualities  of  art  of  the  time  of  Ghiberti.  Three  horses  are  introduced 
in  the  background,  evidently  studied  from  the  sarcophagus,  and  rivalling 
them  in  spirit. " — J.  S.  Harford. 

"  To  show  his  skill  in  the  delineation  of  animal  life,  Niccol6  has  intro- 
duced, among  the  attendant  sheep,  a  goat  scratching  its  ear,  with  ad- 
mirable effect, — an  attempt  that  he  has  repeated  with  like  success,  on 
the  pulpit  at  Siena. " — Lindsay's  Christian  Art. 

Behind  the  Baptistery  is  the  entrance  to  the  Campo-Santo 
(50  c.  on  leaving,  to  the  Custode,  who  will  allow  you  to 
walk  about  alone  if  desired). 

This  beautiful  "  Garden  of  the  Dead  "  is  due  to  Arch- 
bishop Ubaldo  de'  Lanfranchi,  who  returned  from  Palestine 
with  53  ships  laden  with  the  sacred  earth  of  Calvary.  To 
enclose  this  precious  deposit,  Giovanni  Pisano — "  Johanne 
magistro  aedificante  " — was  employed  in  1278,  and  his  work 
was  completed  in  five  years,  but  the  beautiful  Gothic  tracery 
is  of  later  date.  The  outer  fagade  is  very  simple,  adorned 
with  44  pillars  with  arches  in  low  relief.  Over  the  eastern 
entrance  is  a  Gothic  tabernacle,  containing  a  Madonna  and 
saints  by  Giovanni  Pisano.  The  building  is  415  feet  long 
by  137  wide.     The  cloister  is  46  ft.  high,  and  34  ft.  wide, 

"  Giovanni  Pisana,  having  been  appointed  to  enclose  the  space  with 
walls,  designed  and  built  the  first,  as  well  as  the  most  beautiful,  Campo- 
Santo  in  Italy.  Following  the  ground-plan  marked  out  by  Archbishop 
Lanfranchi,  Giovanni  raised  his  outer  walls  without  windows,  and  with 


CAMPO-SANTO  OF  PISA.  453 

only  two  doors  looking  towards  the  Duomo,  that  the  frescoes,  with  which 
they  were  to  be  covered  on  the  inside,  might  be  protected  as  far  as  pos- 
sible from  the  injurious  effect  of  the  salt  and  damp  sea-winds.  Between 
these  outer  walls,  which  he  decorated  with  arches  and  pilasters,  and  the 
inner,  directly  contiguous  to  the  quadrangle,  he  made  a  broad-roofed 
corridor  paved  with  marble,  lighted  by  Gothic  windows  and  four  open 
doorways,  through  which  are  now  obtained  constantly  recurring  glimpses 
of  the  graves,  the  solemn  cypresses,  and  the  ever-blooming  roses  of  this 
'  God's  acre.'  Nothing  could  be  better  adapted  to  its  purpose  than  the 
building  thus  constructed,  which,  completely  shutting  out  the  world, 
compels  the  eye  to  rest  upon  objects  suggestive  of  death  and  eternity." 
— Perkins'  Tuscan  Sculptors. 

The  Campo-Santo  should  first  be  examined  with  regard  to 
its  frescoes,  and  afterwards  with  regard  to  the  sculpture  it  con- 
tains. In  order  to  enjoy  the  frescoes  most  profitably,  the 
visitor  (who  enters  by  the  south  wall)  should  turn  to  the 
right  to  the  narrow  east  wall,  where,  on  the  right  of  the 
chapel  door,  are  : — 

Buonamico  Cristofani,  Btiffalmacco  (c.  1273— 1351).     The  Ascension, 
Resurrection,  and  Passion. 

Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle  ascribe  these  pictures  to  a  painter 
of  the  14th  century.     They  are  certainly  much  painted  over. 

"  I  do  not  think  that  the  scene  of  the  risen  Christ  showing  his  wounds 
was  ever  so  perfectly  conceived  as  in  the  group  attributed  to  Buffalmacco. 
Instead  of  Thomas  alone,  there  are  several  disciples  who  recognize  the 
risen  Christ,  and,  amid  worshipping  and  adoring,  contemplate  his 
wounds  with  tender  sympathy ;  together  they  form  one  of  the  most 
beautifully  arranged  groups  of  the  school. 

"In  the  picture  of  the  Ascension  also,  the  great  amount  of  painting 
over  cannot  wholly  destroy  the  beautiful  old  conceptions ;  we  clearly 
recognize  how  the  apostles  are  divided  between  wonderment,  protesta- 
tion, and  devoted  adoration." — Biirckhardt. 

The  picture  of  the  Crucifixion  is — 

"  An  early  work,  yet  a  most  singular  one, — bold  and  original  in  com- 
position and  by  no  means  ill  executed,  and  especially  remarkable  for  the 
varied  actions  of  the  angels  with  which  the  sky  is  peopled ;  one  of  them, 


434  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

among  a  group  gathered  round  our  Saviour,  receives  the  blood  from  his 
side  in  a  golden  chaHce  ;  another,  standing  on  the  cross  of  the  penitent 
thief,  extricates  his  soul  from  his  mouth,  while  a  devil  performs  the  like 
office  for  his  companion  in  punishment,  receiving  it  in  his  arms,  and  a 
brother  fiend,  armed  with  a  whip,  bends  forward,  grotesquely  and  ex- 
ultingly,  to  welcome  it  to  its  new  existence  ;  the  angels  who  had  been 
watching  beside  the  one  cross,  fly  away,  wringing  their  hands  in  sorrow, 
while  those  attendant  on  the  other  rejoice  over  the  good  estate  of  the 
soul  that  has  found  grace  even  on  the  stroke  of  the  eleventh  hour.  All 
of  them  are  in  communion  with  each  other,  sympathizing  with  man. 
The  lower  part  of  the  composition  is  filled  with  waniors  on  horseback, 
the  Virgin  fainting,  attended  by  the  Maries,  a  group  of  Jews,  women, 
children,  &c.,  all  expressive,  though  often  caricatured." — Lindsay's 
Christian  Art, 

South  Wall.  Andrea  Orcagna  (c.  13 15 — 1368).  The 
three  most  wonderful  pictures  of  this  great  master,  who  may 
be  regarded  as  the  Dante  of  painting. 

*i.  The  Triumph  of  Death. 

"  On  the  right  is  a  festive  company  of  ladies  and  cavaliers,*  who,  by 
their  falcons  and  dogs,  appear  to  be  returned  from  the  chase.  They  sit 
under  orange-trees,  and  are  splendidly  dressed  ;  rich  carpets  are  spread 
at  their  feet.  A  troubadour  and  singing  girl  amuse  them  with  flattering 
songs ;  amorini  flutter  around  them  and  wave  their  torches.  All  the 
pleasures  and  joys  of  earth  are  here  united.  On  the  left.  Death  ap- 
proaches with  rapid  flight — a  fearful-looking  woman,  with  wild  stream- 
ing hair,  claws  instead  of  nails,  large  bat's  wings  and  indestructible 
wire-woven  drapery.  She  swings  a  scythe  in  her  hand,  and  is  on  the 
point  of  mowing  down  the  joys  of  the  company.  A  host  of  corpses 
closely  pressed  together  lie  at  her  feet ;  by  their  insignia  they  are  almost 
all  to  be  recognized  as  the  former  rulers  of  the  world — kings,  queens, 
cardinals,  bishops,  princes,  warriors,  &c.  Their  souls  rise  out  of  them 
in  the  form  of  new-born  infants  ;  angels  and  demons  are  ready  to  receive 
them ;  the  souls  of  the  pious  fold  their  hands  in  prayer,  those  of  the 
condemned  shrink  back  in  horror.  The  angels  are  almost  like  gay  but- 
terflies in  appearance,  the  devils  have  the  semblance  of  beasts  of  prey,  or 
of  disgusting  reptiles.  They  fight  with  each  other  :  on  the  right,  the 
angels  ascend  to  heaven  with  those  they  have  saved ;  while  the  demons 

*  Castruccio  Castracani  and  his  companions.    Castruccio  is  so  described  by  Vasari, 
and  has  been  identified  by  comparison  with  his  medals. 


CAMPO-SANTO  OF  PISA.  4SS 

drag  their  prey  to  a  fiery  mountain,  visible  on  the  left,  and  hurl  the  souls 
do  .vn  into  the  flames.  Next  to  these  corpses  is  a  crowd  of  beggars  and 
cripples,  who  with  outstretched  arms  call  upon  Death  to  end  their  sor- 
rows :  but  she  heeds  not  their  prayers,  and  has  already  hastened  away, 
A  rock  separates  this  scene  from  another,  in  which  there  is  a  second 
hunting  party,  descending  the  mountain  by  a  hollow  path  ;  here  again 
are  richly  attired  princes*  and  dames  on  horses  splendidly  caparisoned, 
and  a  train  of  hunters  with  falcons  and  dogs.  The  path  has  led  them  to 
three  open  sepulchres  in  the  left  corner  of  the  picture  ;  in  them  lie  the 
bodies  of  three  princes,  in  different  stages  of  decay.  Close  by,  in  ex- 
treme old  age,  and  supported  on  crutches,  stands  a  monk  (S.  Macarius), 
who,  turning  to  the  princes,  points  down  to  this  bitter  'memento  mori.' 
They  speak  apparently  with  indifference  of  the  circumstance,  and  one  of 
them  holds  his  nose  from  the  horrible  smell.  One  queenly  lady  alone, 
deeply  moved,  rests  her  head  on  her  hand,  her  graceful  countenance  full  of 
sorrow.  On  the  mountain  heights  are  several  hermits,  who,  in  contrast 
to  the  followers  of  the  joys  of  the  world,  have  attained,  in  a  life  of  con- 
templation and  abstinence,  the  highest  term  of  human  existence.  One 
of  them  milks  a  doe,  squirrels  play  about  him  ;  another  sits  and  reads ; 
and  a  third  looks  down  into  the  valley,  where  the  remains  of  the  mighty 
are  mouldering  away.  A  tradition  relates  that  among  the  distinguished 
personages  in  these  pictures  are  many  portraits  of  the  artist's  contempo- 
raries."— Kugler. 

2.  The  Last  Judgment. 

"  Here,  for  the  first  time,  the  Judge  becomes  not  merely  a  function, 
but  a  personal  character,  to  whom  the  position  and  the  celebrated  ges- 
ture give  a  grand  life-likeness.  The  belief  of  the  age  gave  the  Madonna 
a  place  as  intercessor  in  the  Last  Judgment  ;  the  painter  gave  her  the 
same  almond-shape  glory  as  to  Christ.  The  Apostles  are  here  no  longer 
mere  inanimate  spectators,  but  they  take  the  most  lively  interest  in  the 
scene  ;  we  see  them  lamenting,  some  looking  up  aghast  to  the  Judge, 
some  wrapped  in  their  own  sorrowful  thoughts,  some  talking  together." 
— Bu  rckha  rdt. 

*'  Above,  in  the  middle,  sit  Christ  and  the  Virgin  in  separate  glories. 
He  turns  to  the  left,  toward  the  condemned,  while  he  uncovers  the  wound 
in  his  side,  and  raises  his  right  arm  with  a  menacing  gesture  ;  his  coun- 
tenance is  full  of  majestic  wrath.  The  Virgin,  on  the  right  of  her  Son, 
is  the  picture  of  heavenly  mercy  ;  and  almost  terrified  at  the  words  of 
eternal  condemnation,  she  turns  away,  while  her  countenance  and  mien 

•  Uguccione  delta  Faggiuola,  Lord  of  Pisa,  and  the  Emperor  Louis  of  Bavaria  are 
the  most  conspicuous  figures. 


456  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

express  only  divine  sorrow  for  the  lost.  On  both  sides  sit  the  Fathers  of 
the  Old  Testament,  the  Apostles  and  the  Saints  next  to  them,  severe, 
solemn,  dignified  figures.  Angels,  holding  the  instruments  of  the  Pas- 
sion, hover  over  Christ  and  the  Virgin  ;  luider  them  is  a  group  of  angels, 
in  the  strictest  symmetrical  arrangement,  who  summon  the  dead  from 
their  graves ;  two  blow  the  trumpets,  a  third  conceals  himself  in  his 
drapery,  shuddering  at  the  awful  spectacle.  Lower  down  is  the  earth, 
where  men  are  rising  from  the  graves  ;  armed  angels  direct  them  to  the 
right  and  left.  Here  is  seen  Solomon,  who  whilst  he  rises  seems  doubt- 
ful to  which  side  he  should  turn  ;  here  a  hypocritical  monk,  whom  an 
angel  draws  back  by  the  hair  from  the  hosts  of  the  blessed  ;  and  a  youth 
in  secular  costume,  whom  another  angel  leads  away  from  the  condemned 
to  the  opposite  groups.  The  blessed  and  the  condemned  rise  in  thick 
crowds  above  each  other  on  both  sides." — Kiigler. 

"Among  the  blessed,  all  are  gazing  upwards  to  the  Saviour  except  a 
group  immediately  in  front,  of  a  queen  helping  her  daughter  out  of  the 
grave — beautiful  figures,  full  of  grace  and  sweetness.  One  feeling  for  the 
most  part  pervades  this  side  of  the  composition, — there  is  far  more 
variety  in  the  other ;  agony  is  depicted  with  fearful  intensity  and  in 
every  d^ree  and  character ;  some  clasp  their  hands,  some  hide  their 
faces,  some  look  up  in  despair,  but  none  towards  Christ ;  others  seem  to 
have  grown  idiots  with  horror, — a  few  gaze,  as  if  fascinated,  into  the 
gulf  of  fire  towards  which  the  whole  mass  of  misery  are  being  urged  by 
the  minister  of  doom — the  flames  bite  them,  the  devils  fish  for  and  catch 
them  with  long  grappling  hooks, — in  sad  contrast  to  the  group  on  the 
opposite  side,  a  queen,  condemned  herself  and  self-forgetful,  vainly 
struggles  to  rescue  her  daughter  from  a  demon  who  has  caught  her  by 
the  gown  and  is  dragging  her  backwards  into  the  abyss — her  sister, 
wringing  her  hands,  looks  on  in  agony — it  is  a  fearful  scene." — Lindsays 
Christian  Art. 

"  In  the  Last  Judgment  of  Orcagna,  the  Seven  Angels  are  active  and 
important  personages.  The  angel  who  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  pic- 
ture, below  the  throne  of  Christ,  extends  a  scroll  in  each  hand  ;  on  that 
in  the  right  hand  is  inscribed,  '  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,'  and  on 
that  on  the  left  hand,  '  Depart  from  me,  ye  accursed  : '  him  I  suppose  to 
be  Michael,  the  angel  of  judgment.  At  his  feet  crouches  an  angel  who 
seems  to  shrink  from  the  tremendous  spectacle  and  hides  his  face  :  him  I 
suppose  to  be  Raphael,  the  guardian  angel  of  humanity.  The  attitude 
has  always  been  admired — cowering  with  horror,  yet  sublime.  Beneath 
are  other  five  angels,  who  are  engaged  in  separating  the  just  from  the 
wicked,  encouraging  and  sustaining  the  former,  and  driving  the  latter 
towards  the  demons  who  are  ready  to  snatch  them  into  flames.     These 


CAMPO-SANTO  OF  PISA.  457 

Seven  Angels  have  the  garb  of  princes  and  wamors,  with  breast-plates 
of  gold,  jewelled  sword-belts  and  tiaras,  rich  mantles  ;  while  the  other 
angels  who  figure  in  the  same  scene  are  plumed,  and  bird-like,  and  hover 
above  bearing  the  instruments  of  the  Passion." — Jameson's  Sacred  Art. 

3.  Hell.  Said  to  have  been  executed  by  Bernardo 
Orcagna  from  designs  of  his  brother  Andrea,  and  greatly 
inferior  to  the  two  other  pictures. 

"A  vast  rib  or  arch  in  the  walls  of  pandemonium  admits  one  to  the 
contiguous  gulf  of  hell,  a  continuation  of  the  second  fresco — in  which 
Satan  sits  in  the  midst,  in  gigantic  terror,  cased  in  armour,  and  crunch- 
ing sinners — of  whom  Judas,  especially,  is  eaten  and  ejected,  re-eaten 
and  re-ejected  again  and  again  for  ever." — Lindsay  s  Christian  Art. 

**  L'lmperador  del  doloroso  regno  .  .  . 


Da  ogni  bocca  dirompea  co'  denti 
Un  peccatore  a  guisa  di  maciulla, 
Si  che  tre  ne  facea  cosi  dolenti." 

Inf.  xxxiv.  28 — 55. 

"  II  est  impossible  de  ne  pas  reconnaitre  ici  des  tableaux  traces  d'abord 
par  le  pinceau  de  Dante.  On  voit  ici  Satan  devorant  trois  corps  humains 
a  demi  engouffres  deja  dans  sa  gueule  gigantesque  II  est  de  meme  dans 
I'Enfer.  Le  nombre  des  victimes  est  pareil.  Ce  sont,  chez  Dante, 
Judas,  Brutus,  et  Cassius,  rapprochement  bizarre  en  apparence,  mais  qui 
cesse  d'etonner  quand  on  a  etudie,  dans  le  Traite  de  la  Monarchie,  le 
systeme  de  politique  et  d'histoire  que  le  guelfe  banni  s'etait  fait  en  deve- 
nant  gibelin,  afin  de  justifier  ses  opinions  nouvelles.  Pour  lui,  les  deux 
puissances  de  la  terre,  presque  egales  en  saintete,  et  I'une  et  I'autre  d'ori- 
gine  romaine,  c'etaient  dune  part  le  pape  heritier  de  saint  Pierre  et  vicaire 
de  Jesus-Christ  quant  au  spirituel,  de  I'autre  I'empereur  heritier  de  Cesar 
et  vicaire  de  Dieu  quant  au  temporel.  A  ce  point  de  vue,  les  meur- 
triers  de  Cesar  etaient  presque  aussi  coupables  envers  le  genre  humain 
que  les  meutriers  du  Christ.  Pour  Orcagna,  en  mettant  trois  damnes 
dans  le  gueule  de  Satan,  il  ne  pouvait  avoir  d'autres  raisons  que  de 
suivre  Dante,  qu'il  a  bien  reellement  copie  dans  cette  fresque  du  Campo- 
Santo.  La  sont  aussi  les  bolgc,  grands  trous  circulaires  dans  lesquels 
I'auteur  de  la  Divine  Comedie  avait  plonge  les  differentes  sortes  de 
damnes ;  la  on  voit  une  figure  decapitee,  et,  comme  Bertrand  de  Bom, 
tenant  par  les  cheveux  sa  tete  sanglante  ainsi  qu'une  lanterne,  expression 


458  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

famili^re,  mais  terrible,  parce  qu'elle  est  d'une  exactitude  pittoresque,  et 
fait  voir  a  I'esprit  le  tableau  qu'Orcagna  n'a  pas  craint  de  montrer  aux 
yeux." — Ampire,  Voyage  Dantesqtie. 

We  now  pass  on  to — 

Pietro  and  Atnbrogio  Lorenzetti.  The  Life  of  the  Hermits 
in  the  Thebaid — painted  c.  1330 — 1350. 

"  We  cannot  attribute  exclusively  either  to  one  or  other  of  the  two 
brothers  the  great  work  representing  the  life  led  by  the  saints  in  the 
desert.  Notwithstanding  the  want  of  perspective,  and  the  incorrectness 
of  the  drawing,  it  is  nevertheless  a  masterpiece  of  grace  and  simplicity. 
(Beginning  on  the  left  at  the  top)  S.  Paul  is  seen  visited  in  his  solitude 
by  S.  Anthony — the  death  of  the  former — the  two  lions  excavating  his 
grave — the  temptations  of  S.  Anthony —Christ  appearing  to  console  him 
— S.  Hilary,  who  by  the  sign  of  the  cross  chases  away  a  dragon  which 
infested  Dalmatia— S.  Mary  the  Egyptian  receiving  the  eucharist  from 
the  hands  of  the  blessed  Zosimo — the  touching  history  of  the  two 
friends,  Onofrio  and  Panuza — the  miraculous  palm-tree,  a  bough  of  which 
flowered  every  month  for  their  support — the  well-known  adventures  of  S. 
Marina — lastly,  the  different  occupations  of  the  monks,  some  of  whom 
plait  mats  of  rushes,  others  listen  to  the  word  of  God,  while  the  re- 
mainder are  absorbed  in  contemplation :  in  a  word,  all  that  could  oc- 
cupy the  body  or  mind  of  these  monkish  saints  in  their  solitude,  is  either 
represented  or  implied." — Rio. 

Next  (passing  a  Madonna  in  glory)  comes,  enclosed  in  six 
pictures,  the  Life  of  S.  Raniero,  patron  of  the  city,  born  at 
Pisa,  c.  1 100,  of  the  noble  family  of  the  Scaccieri.  The  upper 
three,  much  injured  by  restoration,  are,  according  to  docu- 
ments, hy  Andrea  de Firenze{i^']']),  but,  according  to  Vasari 
and  others,  by  Simone  Memmi.  The  lower  three  are  by 
Antonio  Veneztano,  1386.     The  subjects  are  : — 

1.  S.  Raniero  is  called  from  the  pleasures  and  vices  of  the  world  by  a 

servant  of  God. 

2.  He  embarks  for  the  Holy  Land,  having  received  from  the  priests  the 

schiavina  or  slave-shirt,  which  he  wore  ever  after  in  token  of 
humility. 

3.  He  puts  on  hermit's  dress. 


CAMPO-SAXTO  OF  PISA.  459 

4.  He  has  visions  in  his  hermit  life. 

5.  He  returns  to  Pisa. 

6.  He  detects  the  fraud  of  an  inn-keeper  at  Messina  who  adulterated 

his  wine,  and,  to  his  great  horror,  showed  to  him  the  Devil — as  a 
cat  with  bat's  wings  seated  on  his  wine-cask. 

7.  He  dies  at  Pisa  in  front  of  the  monastery  of  S.  Vito,  is  carried  to 

heaven  by  angels,  and  his  body  is  buried  in  the  cathedral. 

8.  His  miracles  after  death — the  sick  being  healed  by  touching  his 

body,  and  a  ship  brought  safely  through  a  storm  by  his  guidance. 

"A  touching  circumstance  is  connected  with  this  work.  It  is,  that  in 
1356,  the  plague  reached  Pisa  by  way  of  Genoa,  where  it  carried  off 
more  than  three  hundred  victims  a  day ;  and  that  the  senate  and  people 
going  in  the  dress  of  penitents,  bare-footed  and  weeping,  to  offer  up 
prayers  for  mercy  at  the  tomb  of  S.  Raniero,  the  plague  ceased  its  ra- 
vages from  that  moment.  Now,  it  is  proved  from  authentic  documents, 
that  Simone  Memmi  was  summoned  by  the  Pisans  immediately  after 
this  miraculous  deliverance,  so  that  the  painting  which  is  seen  in  the 
Campo-Santo  may  be  considered  more  a  work  of  piety  than  of  art,  or 
rather  it  is  a  magnificent  ex  voto,  destined  to  immortalize  the  remem- 
brance of  a  benefit  conferred,  and  the  gratitude  excited  by  it. 

"  All  was  mystery  and  poetry  in  the  life  of  this  holy  personage.  In  a 
vision  which  he  had  in  his  youth,  an  eagle  appeared  to  him  carrying  in 
its  beak  a  lighted  torch,  and  saying  to  him,  /  come  from  yerusalem  to 
enlighten  the  nations.  His  life  had  been  filled  with  the  most  marvellous 
adventures  ;  and  at  his  death,  which  occurred  the  1 7th  of  June,  1 161,  all 
the  bells  of  the  churches  in  Pisa  tolled  spontaneously  ;  the  Archbishop 
Villani,  who  had  been  stretched  for  two  years  on  a  sick  bed,  was  raised 
entirely  healed,  to  officiate  at  his  funeral,  and  at  the  moment  when  the 
Gloria  in  excelsis  was  suppressed,  as  is  usual  in  the  service  for  the  dead,  a 
choir  of  angels  chanted  it  over  the  altar,  while  a  spontaneous  accompani- 
ment burst  from  the  organ  ;  and  such  was  the  sweetness  and  harmony  of 
this  angelic  concert,  that  the  spectators  imagined  that  the  gates  of  heaven 
were  opened  to  them.  This  legend  had  been  transmitted  from  mouth  to 
mouth,  and  from  one  generation  to  another,  for  more  than  two  centuries, 
when  the  principal  events  in  the  life  of  the  saint  to  whom  it  referred  were 
depicted  on  the  walls  of  the  Campo-Santo,  by  an  artist  who  was  princi- 
pally indebted  for  his  success  to  his  sympathy  with  those  who  employed 
his  pencil." — Rio. 

The  next  frescoes,  by  Spinello  Aretino,  1391,  relate  to  the 
lives  of  the  other  Pisan  saints  (buried  in  the  cathedral),  SS. 


46o  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Ephesus  and  Potitus,  soldiers  of  Diocletian,  who  were  sent  to 
exterminate  the  Christians  in  Sardinia,  but,  being  warned  in 
a  dream,  turned  against  the  Pagans  instead,  and  suffered 
martyrdom.  Their  relics  were  carried  off  hither  by  the 
Pisans,  when  they  subdued  Sardinia  in  the  nth  century. 
The  three  upper  frescoes  represent : — 

1.  The  mission  of  Ephesus — on  one  side  the  Emperor  gives  him  his 

commission — on  the  other  our  Lord  summons  liim  to  his  service. 

2.  Ephesus  receives  the  Christian  standard  (the  standard  still  of  Pisa) 

from  S.  Michael,  and  fights  against  the  heathens  in  Sardinia, 
which  is  represented  as  an  island  by  the  water  and  fishes  sur- 
rounding it. 

3.  The  martyrdom  of  Ephesus — who  kneels  uninjured  in  the  midst  of 

a  furnace,  while  the  flames  destroy  the  executioners. 

The  frescoes  in  the  lower  series  are  now  quite  unintelli- 
gible. 

"Few  remain  of  the  frescoes  of  Spinello  Aretino  (executed  1389 — 1392) 
and  in  a  sadly  injured  condition.  They  represent  the  history  of  S .  Ephesus. 
The  appearance  of  our  Saviour  to  him  on  his  expedition  against  the 
Christians,  as  general  of  Diocletian,  in  the  first  large  compartment,  and 
his  battle  with  the  Pagans  of  Sardinia  in  the  second,  are  full  of  fire  and 
spirit,  both  men  and  horses  are  energetic  and  daring  to  a  degree,  although 
frequently  uncouth  from  the  very  novelty  of  the  groups  and  attitudes 
which  the  artist  has  attempted  to  delineate." — Lindsay's  Christian  Art. 

Next  come  (beyond  the  2nd  door)  by — 
Francesco  da    Vol  terra  (137 1),  long  attributed  to  Giotto, 
six  frescoes  of  the  story  of  Job. 

'*  The  subject  is  not  happily  chosen, — first,  because  the  book  of  Job  is 
in  itself  a  perfect  poem,  the  beauty  of  which  is  independent  of  any  addi- 
tion from  art  ;  and,  secondly,  because  this  history  is  a  kind  of  inward 
drama,  in  which  all  the  scenes  are  represented  as  passing  within  the 
mind  of  a  holy  man  whom  God  tries  for  his  greater  sanctification  :  hence 
painting,  dependent  for  its  effect  on  lines  and  colours,  is  unequal  to  give 
all  the  details  and  imperceptible  gradations  which  properly  belong  to  a 
scene,  the  dramatic  interest  of  which  is  of  so  elevated  a  nature.     The 


CAMPO-SANTO  OF  PISA.  461 

history  of  Job,  in  the  Campo-Santo,  has  sustained  more  injury  from  time 
than  any  of  the  adjoining  paintings." — Rio. 

"The  subject,  whether  chosen  intentionally  or  not,  aptly  illustrates 
the  pious  and  noble  constancy  of  Pisa  in  the  midst  of  national  misfortune- 
Four  of  the  series  have  been  entirely  destroyed  ;  two  remain,  but  mere 
wrecks.  One  of  them  (2nd  upper)  represents  the  appearance  of  Satan 
before  our  Saviour,  seeking  to  tempt  the  patriarch,  while,  to  the  right, 
the  trials  have  already  begun, — his  servants  are  being  killed,  his  cattle 
driven  away  by  the  Chaldeans ;  in  the  other  (2nd  lower)  Job  is  seen 
seated  in  his  misery,  naked,  covered  with  sores  and  visited  by  his  three 
comforters,  while  in  the  remainder  of  the  picture,  the  Deity  addresses 
them  in  reproof  after  the  interview.  The  attitudes  are  noble,  the  coun- 
tenances expressive,  the  angels  attendant  on  our  Saviour  beautiful, 
strongly  resembling  Cimabue's ;  the  Satan  is  very  humble,  crushed- 
looking,  but  venomous — his  figure  purely  Gothic,  horned,  hoofed,  bat- 
winged,  and  with  a  serpent  writhed  round  him." — Lindsay's  Christian 
Art. 

Beyond  these  are  some  later  paintings  : — 

Ghirlandajo.     Esther — much  repainted. 
Guidotti.     Judith. 

We  now  reach  the  west  end  of  the  south  wall  and  find  it 
covered  by  a  series  of  Biblical  Histories,  beginning  with : — 

Pietro  di  Puccio  da  Orvieto,  c.  1390  {not  Buffalmacco  as 
in  Murray,  &c,),  who  in  1387  had  designed  the  mosaics  on 
the  fa9ade  of  Orvieto.  By  his  hand  are  the  first  set  of 
frescoes ; — 

I.  God  the  Father — a  colossal  figure — bearing  the  globe  of  the  world. 

In  the  comers  SS.  Augustine  and  Thomas  Aquinas. 
2  (in  the  upper  series),    ist.     The  history  of  Adam  and  Eve  before 

and  after  the  expulsion  from  Paradise. 
2nd.  The  Death  of  Abel  and  the  Death  of  Cain. 
3rd.  Noah's  ark  and  the  Deluge. 

"  These  frescoes  evince  a  serious  feeling  in  holy  subjects,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  a  cheerful,  natural  treatment  of  the  circumstances  of  life. 
They  are  also  remarkable  for  technical  merits,  particularly  for  a  har- 
monious arrangement  of  colour." — Kilgler. 

Next  comes   the   Old  Testament  story  from   Noah   to 


462  ITALIAN-  CITIES. 

Goliath,  24  frescoes  by  Benozzo  Gozzoli,  begun  in  1069,  and 
finished  in  16  years,  for  the  price  of  9533  Pisan  lire. 

"  On  the  north  side  of  the  Campo-Santo  at  Pisa,  are  a  series  of  paint- 
ings from  the  Old  Testament  History  by  Benozzo  Gozzoli.  In  the 
earHer  of  these,  angelic  presences,  mingled  with  human,  occur  frequently, 
illustrated  by  no  awfulness  of  light,  nor  incorporeal  tracing.  Clear 
revealed  they  move,  in  human  forms,  in  the  broad  daylight  and  on  the 
open  earth,  side  by  side  and  hand  in  hand  with  men.  But  they  never 
miss  the  angel. 

"He  who  can  do  this,  has  reached  the  last  pinnacle  and  utmost  power 
of  ideal,  or  any  other  art.  He  stands  in  no  need,  thenceforth,  of  cloud, 
nor  lightning,  nor  tempest,  nor  terror  of  mystery.  His  sublime  is 
independent  of  the  elements.  It  is  of  that  which  shall  stand  when  they 
shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  and  light  the  firmament  when  the  sun  is  as 
sackcloth  of  hair." — Ruskin,  Modern  Painters,  pt.  iii.  <^ 

These  frescoes  form  a  continuation,  both  in  situation  and 
subject,  to  the  works  of  Pietro  di  Puccio,  and  occur  in  the 
following  order : — 

1  (under  the  Adam  and  Eve  of  Pietro).    The  Drunkenness  of  Noah. 

In  the  right-hand  comer  is  the  famous  "  Vergognosa,"  covering 
her  face  with  her  hands,  but  peeping  through  her  fingers. 

2  (under  the  Death  of  Abel).     The  Curse  of  Ham — with  a  beautiful 

Florentine  landscape. 

3  (under  the  Deluge).     The  Tower  of  Babel.      Several  portraits  are 

introduced, — those  of  Cosimo,  Lorenzo,  and  Giulianode'  Medici, 
and  (in  a  berretta)  Angelo  Poliziano. 

4  (over  the  entrance  of  the  Cappella  Ammanati).  The  Annunciation 

and  the  Coming  of  the  Magi — with  beautiful  landscape  and 
animals.     Left,  on  a  brown  horse  is  the  painter  himself. 

5  (above) .     Abraham  and  the  worshippers  of  Baal,  from  the  Rab- 

binical traditions.  Abraham,  who  refused  to  worship  the  Idol, 
is  delivered  from  the  fire  prepared  for  him,  and  his  brother 
Nahor,  who  consented,  is  consumed.  Magnificent  buildings  are 
introduced. 

6  (below).     Abraham  and  Lot  in  Egypt.     The  whole  journey  of  the 

patriarchs  is  represented  in  perspective. 
7.  The  Victory  of  Abraham,  with  the  Rescue  of  Lot  and  the  Offering 
of  Bread  and  Wine  by  Melchizedec 


CAMPO-SANTO  OF  PISA.  463 

8  (below).     The  Story  of  Hagar — much  retouched.     The  birds  and 

beasts  are  wonderfully  introduced. 

9  (above).     The  Escape  of  Lot  from  the  destruction  of  Sodom. 

10  (below).    The  Sacrifice  of  Isaac  with  the  attendant  circumstances — 

the  whole  story. 

1 1  (above).     The  Marriage  of  Isaac  and  Rebecca — the  whole  story, 

12  (below).     The  Birth  of  Jacob  and  Esau,  and  the  principal  events 

of  their  lives. 

13  (above).     The  Marriage  of  Jacob  and  Rachael — the  dancers  at  the 

marriage-feast  most  beautiful. 

14  (below).     The  Meeting  of  Jacob  and  Esau— Lorenzo  de'  Medici  is 

introduced  in  profile  with  many  contemporary  portraits. 

15  (over  the  door  of  the  Cappella  Aula).     Fragments  of  the  Corona- 

tion of  the  Virgin  by  Pietro  di  Puccio. 

16  (above).     The  Early  History  of  Joseph. 

17  (below).     The  Story  of  Joseph  in  Egypt.     Beneath  this  picture  is 

the  grave  of  the  artist— Benozzo  Gozzoli,  1478. 

18  (above).     Four  scenes  from  the  Childhood  of  Moses. 

19  (below).     The  Passage  of  the  Red  Sea. 

20  (above).     The  Giving  of  the  Law  to  Moses. 

21.  The  lower  picture  and  the  two  beyond  it  as  far  as  the  angle  of 

the  west  wall  are  destroyed. 

22.  Aaron's  Rod,  and  the  Brazen  Serpent. 

23.  The  Fall  of  Jericho  and  the  Death  of  Goliath. 

24.  The  Visit  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba.     Platina,  Marcilio  Ficino,  and 

members  of  the  Visconti  and  Gambacorti  families  are  introduced 
on  the  right. 

"  The  immense  work,  which,  in  his  declining  years,  Benozzo  Gozzoli 
executed  in  the  Campo-Santo,  and  which  embraces  the  history  of  the 
Old  Testament,  from  Noah  to  the  time  of  Solomon,  represented  in  24 
large  compartments,  nearly  all  in  good  preservation,  must  be  considered, 
both  as  regards  poetical  merit  and  dimensions,  as  one  of  the  most  aston- 
ishing marvels  of  art ;  and  Vasari  has  justly  remarked,  that  this  gigantic 
undertaking  might  well  alarm  a  whole  legion  of  painters.  Never  have 
imposing  or  pastoral  scenes  been  so  happily  represented  by  any  artist  ; 
in  order  to  succeed  in  them,  a  mixture  of  grandeur  and  simplicity  was 
required,  which  the  naturalists'  school  of  Florence  was  quite  unable  to 
reach  ;  and  this  want  of  power  was  still  more  fatally  developed  in  the 
succeeding  generation.  In  the  fourteenth  century  several  attempts  had 
been  made,  which  might  have  been  successful  if  the  methods  of  tech- 
nical execution  had  been  better  understood.  Benozzo  alone  had  the  privi- 
lege of  uniting  this  last  advantage  to  the  naive  and  grand  inspirations  of 


4^4  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

the  early  masters  ;  and  it  is  on  this  account,  perhaps,  that  no  one  has  left, 
at  least  on  so  large  a  scale,  a  more  perfect  model  of  the  patriarchal 
style — the  most  difficult  of  any  if  we  may  judge  from  the  very  small 
numbers  of  painters  who  have  excelled  in  it." — Rio. 

"  In  the  prolonged  ranges  of  varied  subjects  with  which  Benozzo 
Gozzoli  decorated  the  cloisters  of  Pisa,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  love  of  simple 
domestic  incident,  sweet  landscape,  and  glittering  ornament,  prevails 
slightly  over  the  solemn  elements  of  religious  feeling,  which,  neverthe- 
less, the  spirit  of  the  age  instilled  into  him  in  such  measure  as  to  form  a 
very  lovely  and  noble  mind,  though  still  one  of  the  second  order.  In  the 
work  of  Orcagna,  an  intense  solemnity  and  energy  in  the  sublimest 
groups  of  his  figures,  fading  away  as  he  touches  inferior  subjects,  indicate 
that  his  home  was  among  the  archangels,  and  his  rank  among  the  first  of 
the  sons  of  men." — Ruskin^s  Modern  Painters. 

The 'first  part  of  the  IVest  Wall  is  covered  with  inferior 
frescoes : — 

Rondinosi,  1666.     The  Story  of  Josaiah  and  of  Belshazzar's  feast. 

The  Cappella  Ammanati  (over  the  entrance  of  which  are 
Magi  of  Benozzo)  contains  six  heads  in  fresco  by  Giotto, 
removed  hither,  after  the  fire,  from  the  Carmine  in  Florence. 
Here  is  the  fine  tomb  of  Ligo  degU  Ammanati,  1359. 

The  Cappella  Maggiore  {Eastern  Wall),  of  1594,  contains 
an  interesting  Crucifix  of  the  12th  century,  with  the  History 
of  the  Passion,  and  two  Crucifixes  by  Giunta  Pisano — one 
of  1238. 

We  must  now  turn  to  the  monuments  and  fragments  of 
ancient  sculpture  which  have  been  brought  together  in  the 
corridors  of  the  Campo-Santo.  This  collection  has  been 
formed  gradually.  The  Sarcophagi  stood  around  the  exterior 
of  the  Duorno  in  the  nth,  12th,  and  13th  centuries,  and, 
with  the  exception  of  that  of  the  Countess  Beatrice  which 
was  moved  later,  were  all  brought  here  in  1293,  when  the 
marble  steps  were  added  to  the  cathedral.  Other  tombs 
and  works  of  art  have  been  collected  from  the  different 


CAMPO-SANTO  OF  PISA.  465 

churches,  a  plan,  which,  though  useful  in  many  cases,  has 
in  others  completely  annihilated  their  interest,  especially  in 
the  case  of  tombs  removed  from  the  churches  for  which  they 
were  intended,  and  where  the  bodies  of  those  they  com- 
memorated were  interred.     The  best  works  are  : — 

South  Corri'dor — beginning  at  the  eastern  end. — 

II  (On  a  Roman  Sarcophagus  with  battle-scenes).     Giovanni  Pisanc. 

S.  Peter. 
9  and  10.     Statuettes  of  the  Pisan  School. 
IV.   (On  a  Sarcophagus).     Bust  of  Junius  Brutus. 
VIII.  Beautiful  Bacchanalian  fragment  of  a  Sarcophagus. 
AA.   Thorwaldsen.      Monument  of  the    Anatomist    Andrea  Vacca 
Berlinghieri,  ob.  1826,  with  a  relief  of  Tobias  with  his  blind 
father. 
BB.    Van  Linth.     Tomb  of  Count  Marulli  d'Ascoli. 
22.  Bonamico.     Marble  Architrave,  with  Christ  and  the  emblems  of 

the  Evangelists. 
33.    Tommaso  Pisano.     Marble  Altar  and  frieze. 

West  Corridor. — 

45.  Giovanni  Pisano.     Madonna  (headless). 

46.  Tommaso  Pisano.     Part  of  the  Tomb  of  Conte  della  Gherardesca 

(1013— 1341). 
*99.   Sarcophagus  of  the  Emperor  Henry  VII.  (of  Luxembourg),  who 
died  at  Buonconvento,  13 13 — formerly  in  the  cathedral,  first  in 
the  tribune,  and  then  in  the  Chapel  of  S.  Raniero.     It  is  by 
Tino  di  Camaino,  13x5. 

•'  Upon  a  sarcophagus  of  white  marble  lies  the  ef&gy  of  the  emperor, 
robed  in  an  imperial  mantle  decorated  with  the  lions  and  eagles  of  the 
Guelphs  and  Ghibellines,  his  hands  crossed  upon  his  breast,  and  his  un- 
covered head,  which  is  characteristic  and  full  of  repose,  resting  upon  a 
cushion.  This  sarcophagus,  adorned  in  front  with  eleven  short  and 
clumsy,  but  not  ill-draped,  figures  of  saints,  while  at  each  end  stand 
mourning  genii,  rests  upon  a  double  basement ;  the  upper  one  bears  a 
long  inscription  recording  the  translation  of  his  remains,  followed  by  a 
concourse  of  more  than  three  thousand  persons,  from  the  castle  of  Suva- 
reto  in  the  Maremma,  where  they  had  been  temporarily  deposited." — 
Perkins'  Tuscan  Sculptors. 

VOL.   II.  30 


466  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

"  II  faut  saluer  au  nom  de  Dante  la  sepulture  de  I'empereur  Henri  VII., 
ce  malheureux  Henri  VII.,  celui  dont  il  attendait  tout  ce  que  desirait 
son  ame  ardente  :  retour  dans  sa  patrie,  vengeance  de  ses  ennemis, 
triomphe  de  ses  idees  politiques  :  celui  dont  il  prophetisait,  avec  des 
paroles  qui  semblaient  empruntees  a  Isaie,  les  prochains  triomphes,  et 
qui  ne  vint  dans  cette  Italie,  oix  il  etait  tant  attendu,  que  pour  y  mourir. 
Le  pauvre  empereur  a  la  tete  k  demi  soulevee ;  il  semble  faire  un  effort 
inutile  et  retomber  sous  le  poids  de  sa  faiblesse.  La  tombe  raconte  sa 
vie.  II  tenta  peniblement  de  relever  la  majeste  imperiale ;  elle  retomba 
vaincue  ;  le  temps  en  etait  passe.  On  dirait  qu'il  est  encore  fatigue  de 
sa  malencontreuse  tentative  ;  il  a  I'air  de  dormir  mal,  et  de  ne  pas  etre  4 
son  aise,  meme  dans  la  mort.  On  a  trouve,  dit-on,  dans  un  cercueil  des 
vetements  dores  qui  tombaient  en  poussiere.  Cela  peint  bien  sa  destinee. 
De  la  poussiere  de  manteau  imperial,  c'est  tout  ce  qui  devait  rester  des 
projets  d'Henri  VII.  et  des  esperances  de  Dante."— /^w/^/r. 

Near  the  tomb  hang  the  chains  of  the  Port  of  Pisa,  taken  by  the 
Genoese  in  1362,  and  given  by  them  to  Florence,  where  they  long  hung 
over  the  door  of  the  Baptistery,  but  were  restored  in  1848. 

♦47.    Giovanni  Pisano.     An  allegorical  figure  of  Pisa  sustained  by  the 

*  four  Cardinal  Virtues. 

*'  In  criticizing  the  Pisa,  which  is  interesting  as  being,  perhaps,  the 
largest  statue  made  in  Italy  since  the  time  of  Constantine,  it  should 
be  taken  into  consideration,  that  in  such  a  work  immense  and  untried 
difficulties  presented  themselves  to  a  sculptor  accustomed  to  treat  sculp- 
ture as  an  architectural  accessory.  This  statue  represents  the  city  of  Pisa 
as  a  crowned  and  draped  woman,  holding  two  diminutive  children  at  her 
breasts,  as  emblems  of  her  fertility,  girdled  with  a  cord  seven  times 
knotted,  in  token  of  her  dominion  over  the  seven  islands  of  Corsica,  Sar- 
dinia, Elba,  Pianosa,  Capraja,  Giglio,  and  Gorgona.  She  stands  upon  a 
pedestal,  which  is  supported  at  the  four  comers  by  fig^ires  of  Prudence, 
Temperance,  Fortitude,  and  Justice  (the  guiding  principles  of  her  govern- 
ment), between  which  eagles  are  sculptured,  in  allusion  to  her  Roman 
origin.  It  would  be  hard  to  find  anything  more  original  than  this  strange 
work,  whose  ugliness  is  somewhat  redeemed  by  an  intensity  of  expression 
which  arrests  the  attention,  and  the  dramatic  turn  of  the  head  of  the 
principal  figure,  whose  sly  glance  seems  on  the  watch  for  some  strange 
coming." — Perkins'  Tuscan  Sculptors. 

LL.  Tomb  of  Archbishop  Pietro  Ricci,  1418. 

NN.    Tommaso  Masi.     Tomb  of  the  Pisan  painter  Giov.  Bat.  Tem- 
pest:, 1804. 


CAMPO-SANTO  OF  PISA.  467 

•50.    Orcagna.     Madonna,  on  an  antique  capital. 
52.   A  marble  urn  with  Bacchic  ornaments — the  bearded   Bacchus 
was  taken  by  Niccolo  Pisano  as  a  model  for  the  high  priest  in 
the  third  subject  of  his  pulpit  in  the  Baptistery. 

North  Corridor. — 

56.   Relief  in  Parian  marble. 
*59.   Giovanni  Pisano.     Madonna — half-figure — from  the  Cathedral. 
67,  70.   Charity  and  Penitence — statuettes  of  the  Pisan  School. 
XVI.  Ancient  marble  sarcophagus  with  Bacchus,  Ariadne,  and  the 

Centaurs. 
73.   Helmeted  head — of  Achilles.  (?) 

XIX.  Alino  da  Fiesole.     Bust  of  the  famous  Isotta  da  Rimini. 
*XXI.  The    tomb    of   the  Countess  Beatrice,   1076 — Mother  of  the 
famous  Matilda  of  Tuscany — with  the  epitaph  — 

"  Quamvis  peccatrix,  sum  domna  vocata  Beatrix, 
In  tumulo  missa,  jaceo  quae  comitissa?" 

"It  is  an  ancient  sarcophagus,  originally  brought  from  Greece  by  the 
Pisans  in  the  nth  century,  and  after  being  adapted  as  the  tomb  of 
Beatrice,  stood  for  centuries  at  the  south  door  of  the  cathedral.  On  the 
front  are  the  reliefs  of  the  rejection  of  Pha;dra  by  Ilippolytus,  and  his 
departure  for  the  chase  ;  they  are  of  great  excellence.  Niccolo  Pisano 
was  greatly  indebted  to  their  study. 

"Niccolo  Pisano  got  nothing  but  good,  the  modern  French  nothing 
but  evil,  from  the  study  of  the  antique  ;  but  Niccolo  Pisano  had  a  God 
and  a  character. " — Ruskin,  Modern  Painters. 

121.  Andrea  Pisano.     Relief. 

135.  Frederick  II.  and  his  courtiers — sculptor  unknown. 

West  Corridor. — 
UU.  Tomb  of  Filippo  Decio,  1535,  with  beautiful  Renaissance-decor- 
ation by  Stagi. 

141.  Bartolini.     "  L'Inconsolabile." 

142,  Giov.  Pisano.     Candelabrum  of  the  Cathedral. 

South  Corridor. — 

172.    Orcagna.     Statuette. 

LIX.  LXV.  Sarcophagi  with  admirable  ornaments. 

Even  the  most  passing  visitor  to  Pisa  should  give  time  to 


468  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

visit,  on  the  Lung'  Arno,  the  lovely  little  church  of  La 
Madonna  della  Spina,  though  its  interest  is  greatly  marred 
by  its  having  been  entirely  rebuilt  (1874-75)  since  the 
accession  of  the  Sardinian  government.  The  building  itself 
has  been  carefully  replaced  stone  for  stone,  but  the  erection 
of  the  new  Arno  wall,  and  the  destruction  of  the  little  plat- 
form from  which  it  was  formerly  seen  so  well,  has  anni- 
hilated its  picturesque  effect. 

"This  chapel  is  an  architectural  gem,  and,  at  the  time  it  was  executed, 
was  considered  to  be  a  miracle  of  art.  It  was  erected  for  the  conveni- 
ence of  mariners,  who,  in  the  flourishing  times  of  Pisa,  repaired  hither 
before  they  set  off  on  their  voyage  to  implore  the  protection  of  the  Virgin. 
It  was  twice  built.  The  first  edifice  was  begun  in  1230,  at  the  joint  ex- 
pense of  the  Senate  and  of  the  Gualandi,  a  noble  family  of  Pisa.  In 
1323  the  Senate  of  Pisa  determined  to  enlarge  this  chapel.  At  that  time 
it  was  that  the  building  acquired  the  form  and  the  exuberance  of  orna- 
ment which  it  at  present  exhibits.  It  appears  from  successive  decrees 
of  the  .Senate  that  the  work  was  in  progress  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  14th  century. 

' '  In  this  building,  also,  although  its  general  style  is  that  of  the  advanced 
period,  round  forms  still  make  their  appearance ;  but  in  all  the  upper 
part,  the  pointed  style  is  employed  alone.  The  canopies  and  taber- 
nacles are  of  the  most  delicate  workmanship.  The  statues  are  well  ex- 
ecuted, and  if,  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  building,  they  appear  to 
be  too  numerous,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Italians  had  a  peculiar 
passion  for  this  species  of  decoration,  not  only  from  their  love  of  orna- 
ment, but  because  Italy  abounded  in  good  sculpture.  The  whole  of  the 
building  is  of  white  marble. 

' '  The  chapel  derived  its  surname  from  a  thorn  in  our  Saviour's  crown, 
which  was  brought  from  the  Holy  Land  by  a  merchant  of  Pisa,  and 
presented  to  this  chapel  by  his  descendants  in  1333.  The  surname, 
however,  was  not  adopted  till  the  beginning  of  the  next  century." — H. 
Gaily  Knight. 

The  chapel  contains  some  of  the  best  works  of  Nino 
Pisano,  eldest  son  of  the  famous  Andrea. 

"  Three  statues,  of  the  Virgin  and  Child,  attended  to  the  right  and  left 
by  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul  (in  one  of  whom  he  has  represented  his  father 


PALAZZO  LAN^FREDUCCI,  S.   NICCOLA.  469 

Andrea,  whose  face  seems  to  have  been  disfigured  by  an  enormous  wen), 
and  a  bas-relief  of  the  Virgin  suckling  the  Infant  Jesus,  very  coarse  and 
Tulgar,  but  remarkable  for  a  delicacy  and  waxen  smoothness  of  work- 
manship unequalled  in  his  age,  except  by  his  fellow-pupil,  the  illustrious 
Orcagna." — Lindsays  Christian  Art. 


Having  taken  first  those  objects  which  all  one-day  visitors 
to  Pisa  ought  to  see,  let  us  visit,  in  two  walks,  its  remaining 
objects  of  interest — taking  the  Ponte  di  Mezzo,  close  to 
which  are  most  popular  hotels,  as  a  starting-point. 

The  Ponte  di  Mezzo  itself  was  built  by  Ferdinand  II.  on 
the  site  of  the  ancient  bridge  on  which  the  famous  sham 
fights  called  Mazzascudi  used  to  take  place.  Coming  over 
the  bridge  let  us  turn  west  (left)  down  the  Lung'  Arno. 

Passing  the  Palazzo  Agostini  (No.  698) — now  the  Caife  del 
Ussero — a  rich  Gothic  building  of  the  15th  century,  the 
first  turn  on  the  right  beyond  the  Via  S.  Frediano  leads  to 
the  University,  founded  before  1 1 94,  and  enriched  by  Boni- 
fazio  Novello  della  Gherardesca,  Lord  of  Pisa,  1329 — 1341. 
The  buildings  are  called  Sapienza,  and  date  from  1453, 
but  are  unimportant.  In  the  Scuola  Magna  is  a  statue  of 
Galileo  by  Demi,  1839. 

Near  this,  on  Lung'  Arno,  is  the  Palazzo  Lanfreducci — or 
Alia  Giomata  (so  called  from  an  enigmatical  inscription 
over  the  entrance),  which  was  built  at  the  end  of  the  i6th 
century  by  Cosimo  Paglioni.  The  chain  over  the  door  comes 
from  S.  Biagio  alia  Catena,  the  church  of  the  Lanfreducci. 
The  palace  contains  a  well-known  picture  of  Guide  Reni — 
"  Human  and  Divine  Love." 

Just  behind  the  Palazzo  Reale,  in  the  Via  S.  Maria,  is  the 
Church  of  S.  Niccola,  which  has  a  very  remarkable  and  beauti- 
ful tower  designed  by  Niccolo  Pisano.     It  is  in  four  stories, 


47© 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


first  round,  then  octangular,  then  round  again,  then  six-sided 
and  surmounted  by  a  cupola.  The  third  story  is  surrounded 
by  a  loggia  with  i6  marble  columns.  The  interior  has  a 
winding  staircase,  which,  according  to  Vasari,  formed  the 
model  for  that  in  the  Belvidere.  The  tower  leans  slightly. 
The  church  was  founded  c,  looo,  by  Hugh,  Marquis  of  Tus- 
cany, and  contains  some  trifling  remains  of  ancient  mosaics. 

(The  Via  S.  Maria  leads  from  hence  to  the  Duomo.  It 
passes  (left)  the  entrance  to  the  Giardino  Botanico,  an 
admirable  Botanic  Garden,  founded  1544.) 

The  Lung'  Amo  is  closed  to  the  west,  at  the  entrance  of 
the  Citadel,  by  the  wonderfully  picturesque  Torre  Guelfa, 
which,  next  to  the  Spina,  is  the  most  characteristic  feature  of 
the  Lung'  Amo.  It  defended  the  curious  Ponte  al  Mare, 
built  1 33 1,  and  destroyed  by  the  floods,  by  which  Pisa, 
owing  to  the  utter  incompetence  and  neglect  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  present  Government,  was  devastated  in 
1860. 


Pisa. 


In  looking  down  the  river  from  this  end  of  the  town  on  a 
clear  day,  the  traveller  will  be  reminded  of  the  lines  which 
Shelley  wrote  on  the  Ponte  a  Mare — 


ACCADEMIA  DELLE  BELLE  ARTL  471 

"  Within  the  surface  of  the  fleeting  river 
The  wrinkled  image  of  the  city  lay, 
Immovably  unquiet,  and  for  ever 

It  trembles,  but  it  never  fades  away." 

Returning  down  the  Lung'  Arno  as  far  as  the  Via  S. 
Frediano,  we  find,  at  No.  972  of  that  street,  the  Accademia 
delle  Belle  Arti,  founded  during  the  government  of  Napoleon 
in  18 1 2.  It  contains  some  curious  early  pictures,  including  : — 

\st  Room. — 

Giunta  Pisano.  A  Crucifixion.  This  curious  picture  was  once  in  the 
Palazzo  Gambacorti.  A  figure  and  a  coat-of-arms  at  the  sides  of 
the  cross  are  discernible,  but  have  been  concealed  from  some  motive 
at  the  time  of  the  Republic  The  Cathedral,  S.  Sepolcro,  and  the 
ancient  Torre  Ansiani  are  represented  in  the  background. 

Buffdlmacco.     Baptism  of  Christ. 

Giunta  Pisano.     Christ  in  benediction,  with  saints. 

Deodato  cCOrlandi,  1301  (signed).     Virgin  and  Child,  with  saints. 

Giovanni  Bruno,  c.  1370.  S.  Ursula,  who  protects  Pisa — a  female 
figure  in  a  robe  covered  with  the  "  Aquila." 

Duccio.     S.  James,  with  SS.  Antonio  and  John  Baptist. 

ind  Room. — 

Cecco  Pietro  da  Pisa.     Crucifixion  and  Saints,  painted  for  Gamba- 

corta  when  his  daughter  became  a  nun. 
Barnabo  da  Modena.     Virgin  and  Child,  with  Angels — painted  (as 

the  inscription  tells)  for  the  Pisan  merchants. 
Traini.     S.  Dominic— from  S.  Caterina. 
Simone  Memmi.     Saints  and  a  gradino — from  S.  Caterina. 
Jacobo  Gettus,  1 39 1.     Saints,  with  the  Annunciation  above. 

■^rd  Room. — 
Zenobio  Machiavelli,  1470.     Madonna  and  Child,  with  saints. 
Luca  Thotni,  1366.     Crucifixion. 

Benozzo  Gozzoli.     Madonna  and  Child,  with  four  saints. 
Id.     Sketch  for  the  fresco  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba  in  the  Campo-Santo. 
Id,     S.  Anna,  with  the  Virgin  and  Child. 
Ambrogio  d'Asii  (signed).     Christ  with  the  Virgin  and  an  angel. 

^th  Room. — • 

Sodoma.     Holy  Family  from  La  Spina. 


472  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Filippo  Lippi.     Virgin  and  Child  throned,  with  saints. 

dth  Room. — 
Luca  cf  Olanda.     S.  Catherine. 
Ambrogio  d'Asti.  ?     God  the  Father  and  angels. 
Leonardo  da  Vinci.  ?    A  grand  Christ— perishing. 
There  is  a  beautiful  set  of  illuminated  Choir-books  from  S.  Francesco. 

The  Via  S.  Frediano  leads  into  the  Piazza  dei  Cavalieri, 
formerly  the  Piazza  degli  Anziani,  the_ forum  of  ancient  Pisa. 
It  was  granted  to  the  knights  of  the  Order  of  S.  Stefano  in 
1 56 1  by  Cosimo  I.  The  piazza  is  ornamented  with  a  foun- 
tain and  a  statue  of  Cosimo  I.  by  Francavilla. 

The  CJmrch  of  the  Cavalieri  di  S.  Stefano  was  begun  in 
1 56 1  under  Cosimo  de'  Medici,  the  first  Grand-duke.  It  is 
a  monument  to  the  glories  of  the  knights  of  S.  Stephen.  Along 
the  walls  are  ranged  banners  and  other  trophies  taken  by 
them  from  the  Turks.  The  ceiling  is  ornamented  with 
paintings  in  their  honour,  viz. : — 

1.  Cigoli,  1605.     The  Institution  of  the  Order. 

2.  Ligozzi,  1604.     The  Return  of  the  12  galleys  of  the  Order  from  the 

battle  of  Lepanto. 

3.  Crist.  Allori.     Embarkation  of  Marie  de  Medicis  at  Leghorn  for 

her  marriage,  on  the  galley  Capitana  di  S.  Stefano. 

4.  Ja^opo  da  Empoli.     The  Capture  of  five  Turkish  ships  by  the  gal- 

leys of  the  Order,  1602. 

5.  Ligozzi.     The  Plunder  of  Nicopolis  (Prevosa),  1605 — 1606. 

6.  Jacopo  da  Empoli.     The  Capture  of  Bona  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 

The  church  also  contains  : — 

Right  of  Entrance.     Vasari.     Stoning  of  S.  Stephen. 
Left,    2nd   Altar.    Bronzino    (Alessandro   Allori).      The   Madomia 
adoring  the  Infant  Saviour. 

"  Painted  with  all  the  art,  diligence,  design,  invention,  and  beauty  of 
colouring  that  can  be  conceived." — Vasari. 

On  the  Walls.  Pictures  in  chiaroscuro  of  the  life  of  the  martyred 
Pope  S.  Stephen  (on  whose  day  the  Order  was  founded),  by  Vasari,, 
Ligotzi,  Empoli,  and  Allori. 


S.  SISTO,   TORRE  BELLA  FAME.  473 

Close  to  the  church  is  the  Palazzo  Conventuale  dei  Cava- 
lieri,  built  by  NiccoVo  Pisano,  and  decorated  by  Vasari.  In 
the  centre  of  the  fa9ade  are  busts  of  the  first  six  Grand-dukes 
who  were  Grand-masters  of  the  Order.  The  walls  are  adorned 
in  graffito. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  square  is  the  Church  of  S. 
Sisto,  built  in  honour  of  the  sainted  Pope  upon  whose  day 
no  less  than  five  victories  were  gained  by  the  Pisans.  In 
the  interior  are  ancient  columns,  and,  on  either  side  of  the 
entrance,  reliefs  of  the  early  Pisan  school  taken  from  the  old 
pulpit. 

Opposite  S.  Sisto  (separated  by  the  street)  was  the  ancient 
Palazzo  Gualandi  alle  Sette  Vie,  where,  in  the  Torre  della 
Fame  (now  destroyed).  Archbishop  Ruggieri  degli  Ubaldini, 
the  chief  of  the  Ghibelline  party  in  1288,  imprisoned  Count 
Ugolino  della  Gherardesca,  who  had  cruelly  oppressed  Pisa 
at  the  head  of  the  Guelfs.  He  was  seized  in  his  burning 
palace  together  with  his  two  youngest  sons,  Gaddo  and 
Uguccione ;  Nino,  called  le  Brigata,  son  of  Guelfo,  another 
son  who  was  absent;  and  Anselmuccio,  son  of  another  son 
Lotto,  who  was  dead.  In  March,  1289,  the  keys  of  the 
tower  were  thrown  into  the  Amo,  and  the  five  captives  were 
left  to  starve.  Their  awful  fate  gave  rise  to  one  of  the 
most  terrible  passages  of  Dante,  who  represents  Count 
Ugolino,  in  the  Inferno,  as  telling  the  tragic  story  : — 

"  Breve  pertugio  dentro  dalla  muda. 
La  qual  per  me  ha  il  titol  della  fame, 
E'n  che  conviene  ancor  ch'altri  si  chiuda. 

Ben  se'  crudel,  se  tu  gia  non  ti  duoli, 
Pensando  cio  ch'al  mio  cor  s'annunziava ; 
E  se  non  piangi,  di  che  pianger  suoli: 


474  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Gik  eran  desti,  e  I'ora  s'appressava 
Che'l  cibo  ne  soleva  essere  addotto, 
E  per  suo  sogno  ciascun  dubitava  : 

Ed  io  sentii  chiavar  I'uscio  di  sotto 
All'  orribile  torre  :  ond'  io  guardai 
Nel  viso  a'  miei  figliuoi  senza  far  motto, 

Io  non  piangeva,  si  dentro  impietrai ; 
Piangevan'  elli ;  ed  Anselmuccio  mio 
Disse  :  Tu  guardi  si,  padre  :  che  hai  ? 

Pero  non  lag^mai,  ne  rispos'  io 
Tutto  quel  giomo,  ne  la  notte  appresso, 
Infin  che  I'altro  sol  nel  mondo  uscio. 

Come  un  poco  di  raggio  se  fu  messo 
Nel  doloroso  carcere,  ed  io  scorsi 
Per  quattro  visi  il  mio  aspetto  stesso. 

Ambe  le  mani  per  dolor  mi  morsi : 
E  quei,  pensando  ch'io  '1  fessi  per  voglia 
Di  manicar,  di  subito  levorsi, 

E  disser  :  Padre,  assai  ci  fia  men  doglia, 
Se  tu  mangi  di  noi  :  tu  ne  vestisti 
Queste  misere  carni,  e  tu  le  spoglia. 

Quetaimi  allor  per  non  farli  piu  tristi  : 
Quel  di  e  I'altro  stemmo  tutti  muti  : 
Ahi  dura  terra  !  perche  non  t'apristi  ? 

Poscia  che  fummo  al  quarto  di  venuti, 
Gaddo  mi  si  gitto  disteso  a'  piedi, 
Dicendo ;  Padre  mio,  che  non  m'aiuti  ? 

Quivi  mori  :  e  come  tu  mi  vedi, 
Vid  'io  cascar  li  tre  ad  uno  ad  uno 
Tra'l  quinto  di  e'l  sesto  :  ond'  io  mi  diedi. 

Gia  cieco  a  brancolar  sovra  ciascuno, 
E  tre  di  li  chiamai  poi  che  fur  morti : 
Poscia  piu  che'l  dolor  pote  I'digiuno 

Ahi  Pisa,  vituperio  delle  genti 
Del  bel  paese  la  dove  il  si  suona 
Poi  che  i  vicini  a  te  punir  son  lenti, 

Muovansi  la  Capraia  e  la  Gorgona. 
E  faccian  siepe  ad  Arno  in  su  la  foce. 
Si  ch'egli  annieghi  in  te  ogni  persona. 

Che  se'l  conte  Ugolino  aveva  voce 
D'aver  tradita  te  delle  castella. 


S.   CATERINA.  475 

Non  dovei  tu  i  figliuoi  porre  a  tal  croce. 

Innocenti  facea  I'eta  novella, 
Novella  Tebe,  Uguccione  e  il  Brigata 
E  gli  altri  due  che'l  canto  suso  appella." — hif.  xxxiii. 

Turning  from  the  piazza  into  the  Via  S.  Lorenzo,  by  the 
Church  of  S.  AppoUonia,  we'find,  on  the  left,  the  large  tree- 
planted  Piazza  di  S.  Caterina. 

The  great  Dominican  Church  of  S.  Caterina,  finished  in 
1253,  is  the  work  of  Fra  GugHelmo  Agnelli,  a  pupil  of 
Niccolb  Pisano.  It  has  a  beautiful  fagade  rather  resembling 
that  of  S.  Uomenico  at  Pistoia.  Within,  it  is  a  single  aisle, 
with  a  wooden  roof,  and  contains  several  objects  of  great 
interest : — 

Left  of  Entrance.  Nino  Pisano  {son  oi  the  ia.mo\xs  Andres).  The  tomb  of 
Simone  Saltarelli,  Archbishop  of  Pisa,  ob.  1342.  An  altar-tomb  adorned 
with  three  reliefs  with  scenes  from  the  Archbishop's  life,  and  surmounted 
by  a  canopy  with  figures  of  the  Madonna  and  Child  and  angels. 

Centre  of  Left  Wall.  Francesco  di  Traino  (the  best  pupil  of  Orcagna). 
The  Triumph  of  S.  Thomas  Aquinas. 

"  This  is  the  sole  surviving  specimen  of  the  works  of  the  master.  The 
composition  is  most  singular.  S.  Thomas  sits  in  the  centre  in  glory,  of 
gigantic  stature  in  comparison  to  the  figures  which  surround  him.  Our 
Saviour  appears  in  the  sky,  blessing  him,  and  sending  down  on  his  head 
inspiration  in  the  shape  of  rays  of  light ;  similar  rays  descend  on  Moses, 
S.  Paul,  and  the  Evangelists,  seated,  or  rather  crouching,  to  the  right  and 
left  of  our  Saviour,  but  rather  below  him,  forming  a  semi-circle  above  S. 
Thomas,  and  each  holding  the  volume  of  his  writings  open  in  his  hands, 
and  extending  it  towards  the  saint,  rays  ofillumination  darting  from  their 
leaves  upon  him.  The  whole  sum  of  inspiration  thus  concentrated  in  his 
person  is  gathered  as  it  were  into  a  form  in  the  volume  of  his  works, 
probably  the  '  Summa  Theologia,'  held  by  him  expanded  in  his  hands, 
and  from  which  the  rays  of  light  re-issue  and  re-descend  upon  a  crowd  of 
ecclesiastics  at  the  bottom  of  the  picture,  parted  into  two  companies, 
between  whom,  immediately  below  the  Saint,  Averrhoes  lies  extended  in 
pain  and  as  one  discomfited.  While,  finally,  on  platforms  raised  above 
the  multitude,  and  to  the  right  and  left  of  S.  Thomas,  Plato  and  Aris- 
totle, typical  of  mere  human  wisdom,  hold  up  their  books  towards  him, 


476  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

and  in  each  instance  a  ray  of  light  darts  down  from  him  and  illuminates 
the  page. 

"  This  picture  is  in  excellent  preservation  ;  the  colouring  is  dark,  but 
soft  and  transparent,  the  figures  are  stiff  but  very  characteristic ;  its 
chief  interest  lies  in  its  peculiarity  of  invention  and  composition,  in  which 
there  is  the  germ  of  much  grandeur.  Traini  was  probably  a  young  man 
when  he  painted  it,  and  as  only  two  other  of  his  works  are  recorded,  it 
may  be  supposed  that  he  died  before  attaining  maturity." — Lindsay's 
Chistian  Art. 

"  Dans  ce  tableau,  il  fallait  que  le  triomphe  de  la  foi  sur  la  philoso- 
phic profane  fut  exprime  ;  c'est  le  celebre  commentateur  d'Aristote, 
Averrhoes,  qui  a  ete  choisi  dans  ce  but.  Le  medecin  Averrhoes,  dont 
la  philosophic  scandalisa  ses  coreligionnaires  musulmans,  reunit  en  Oc- 
cident un  assez  grand  nombre  d'esprits  forts  dans  des  opinions  peu  chre- 
tiennes.  Petrarque  s'emporte  avec  vehemence  contre  ceux  qui  negligent 
I'Ecriture  sainte  pour  les  livres  d' Averrhoes.  Dans  ce  tableau  il  est 
couche  aux  pieds  de  Saint  Thomas  ;  il  semble  abattu,  et,  appuye  sur  son 
coude,  il  reve  a  sa  defaite." — Ampire. 

Chapel  i  ight  of  Choir.  Fra  Bartolommeo,  with  Mariotto  Albertinello. 
Madonna  with  SS.  Peter  and  Paul — injured  by  a  fire  in  the  17th  century. 
Near  it  an  Annunciation  carved  in  wood  by  Nino  Pisano. 

(A  little  north  of  this  Piazza,  behind  the  Church  of  S. 
Torpe,  are  the  remains  of  some  Roman  baths — "  Bagni  di 
Nerone.")  The  street  on  a  line  with  S.  Caterina,  leads  from 
the  Via  S.  Lorenzo  to  the  Piazza  and  Church  of  S.  Paolo 
air  Orto. 

From  the  lower  side  of  this  piazza  the  Via  S.  Francesco 
leads  (right)  to  the  Church  of  S.  Francesco,  of  the  13th  cen- 
tury. It  has  a  beautiful  campanile.  Within,  it  is  a  single 
nave  with  seven  chapels. 

Choir.  Taddeo  Gaddi,  1342.  On  the  ceiling  SS.  Francis,  Dominic, 
Augustine,  &c.,  with  various  allegorical  figures. — "The  Saints  float  in 
pairs  towards  each  other. " 

Le/l  of  the  Entrance.  Barnaba  da  Modena.  A  tabernacle  picture  of 
the  Virgin  Suckling  the  Infant  Saviour. 

The  Cloisters  are  Renaissance.  In  the  Chapter-house  are  important 
frescoes  of  the  story  of  the  Passion  by  Niccolb  di  Pietro  Gerini,  1390. 


S.  MATTEO,  S.  SEPOLCRO.  477 

"  These  paintings  are  unfortunately  much  injured,  but  even  in  their 
remains  we  can  trace  a  high  degree  of  excellence.  A  solemn  serenity,  a 
peculiar  pathos,  pervade  all  these  representations,  and  show  that  the 
deepest  meaning  of  his  subject  was  present  to  the  artist's  mind ;  we  find 
in  them,  besides,  a  high  sense  of  beauty,  and  the  expression  of  an  intense 
feeling,  which,  as  in  Giovanni  da  Melano,  already  belongs  to  the  second 
general  style  of  this  period.  Pre-eminently  beautiful  is  the  representa- 
tion of  Christ  in  the  Resurrection,  and  still  more  so  in  the  Ascension  ; 
there  is  something  wonderfully  dignified,  holy,  and  glorified  in  the 
features  of  the  Saviour,  which  has,  perhaps,  never  since  been  equalled." 
— Kugler. 

At  the  entrance  of  the  cloister,  UgoUno  and  his  sons  are 
buried. 

"  Quand  je  visitai  le  coin  du  cloitre  ou  gisent  pele  mele  les  victimes 
innocentes  et  la  victime  coupable  (car  il  ne  faut  pas  oublier  qu'Ugolin 
avait  asservi  et  peut-etre  trahi  sa  patrie),  autour  de  moi  tout  etait  silen- 
cieux,  serein  et  brillant.  Una  lumiere  admirable  inondait  les  orangers 
qui  remplissent  I'interieur  du  cloitre,  un  arceau  encadrait  leur  verdure, 
le  campanile  rouge  de  Saint-Fran9ois  se  detachait  harmonieusement  sur 
le  bleu  veloute  du  ciel.  J'eprouvais  un  sentiment  profond  d'adoration 
pour  la  nature  et  d'eloignement  pour  I'homme,  tandis  que,  le  pied  sur  la 
fosse  d'Ugolin,  je  regardais  les  orangers  et  le  ciel.  Une  seule  pensee 
combattait  cette  impression.  Je  me  disais  :  '  Ces  atrocites,  enfantees 
par  les  passions  politiques,  ont  produit  un  des  plus  admirables  chefs- 
d'oeuvre  de  la  poesie  humaine  ;  I'art  console  de  la  vie." — Ampere. 

Turning  south  from  S.  Francesco,  and  returning  to  the 
Lung'  Amo,  we  find  (left)  the  Gothic  Church  of  S.  Matteo. 
It  is  attached  to  a  convent,  which  contains  a  good  work  of 
Aurelio  Lomi.  At  the  end  of  the  Lung'  Amo  to  the  east  is 
the  entrance  of  the  Fasseggiata,  a  pleasant  public  walk  much 
frequented  in  the  afternoon,  especially  by  the  students  of  the 
University.  It  ends  at  the  old  Church  of  S.  Biagio  w^th 
a  leaning  campanile. 

Returning,  and  crossing  the  nearest  bridge — Ponte  alia 
Fortezza — we  find,  on  the  southern  Lung'  Arno-^Lung'  Amo 
Galileo — (left)  the  very  curious  circular  Church  of  S.  Sepolcro, 


478  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

built  in  the  12th  century  by  Diotisalvi,  for  the  Knights  Tem- 
plar. 

Opposite  the  Ponte  del  Mezzo  is  the  Palazzo  del  Banchi, 
built  by  Buontalenti  in  1605.  On  one  side  is  the  Palazzo 
del  Governo,  on  the  other  the  ancient  Palazzo  GafJibacorti, 
now  the  Post-Office.  On  this  side  the  Arno — Lung'  Amo 
Gambacorti — beyond  La  Spina,  is  the  great  Church  of  S. 
Paolo  a  ripa  d^Arno,  founded  in  805,  and  used  as  the 
earliest  cathedral  of  Pisa.  It  is  beautiful  extexnally  with 
delicate  arcades  of  inlaid  marbles,  and  has  three  aisles  sup- 
ported by  granite  columns  with  white  marble  capitals.  The 
walls,  according  to  Vasari,  were  once  decorated  with  frescoes 
by  Cimabue,  Buffalmacco,  Simone,  and  Lippo  Memmi,  but 
of  these  nothing  remains. 

Left  Transept.  Turino  Vannidi  Rigoli,  1397.  A  curious  altar-piece 
of  the  Madonna  throned  between  the  two  rival  patrons  of  Pisa — S. 
Torpe  and  S.  Raniero. 

Right  of  Entrance.  Monument  of  the  learned  G.  Borgondione,  ob. 
1 1 94,  with  a  curious  epitaph,  beginning — 

Doctor  docto       ) 

1  rum 
Scema  magistro  ) 

jacet  hie  Burgundius  ur 

laudabiHs  et  diutur 

docta  poeta 

an  medicina 


cui  litera  greca  lat 
patuit  sapientia  tri 


:j 


Returning  to  and  crossing  Ponte  di  Mezzo,  on  the  right  is 
the  Palazzo  Toscanelli  (Lung'  Arno,  No.  669),  ascribed  to 
designs  of  Michael  Angelo.  Here  Lord  Byron  lived 
182 1 — 22,  Palazzo  Pieracchi  (No.  660)  was  the  ancient 
palace  of  the  Medici. 

The  Via  del  Borgo,  which  faces  the  bridge,  has  colonnades 


THE  CASCINE  AND  COMBO.  479 

like  the  streets  of  Padua  and  Bologna.  On  the  right  is  the 
Church  of  S.  Michele  in  Borgo,  founded  10 18,  but  chiefly 
built  1219 — 1262.  The  fa9ade  is  from  designs  of  Guglielmo 
Agnelli,  1304.  Within,  it  is  a  three-aisled  basilica,  with 
granite  columns. 

Right,  2nd  Altar.     Taddeo  Bartoli.     Madonna  with  Angels,  and  SS. 
Catherine,  Julian,  and  Peter. 


A  most  pleasant  drive  may  be  taken  from  Pisa  (from  the 
Porta  Nuova  near  the  Duomo)  to  the  sea-shore  at  the  Gombo, 
about  6  m.  (carriage  8  francs).  We  pass  the  Cascine  di  S. 
Rossore,  formerly,  in  the  liberal  times  of  the  Grand-dukes, 
the  public  park  of  the  people  of  Pisa,  but  from  which,  since 
the  accession  of  the  Sardinian  Government,  they  have  been 
carefully  excluded  by  Victor  Emanuel.  Here,  through  the 
railings,  glimpses  may  be  caught  of  150  camels,  which  stalk 
about  quite  naturally  through  the  woods,  doing  much  of  the 
farm-work,  being  the  descendants  of  thirteen  male  and  seven 
female  camels  brought  from  Tunis  by  Ferdinand  II.  in  1622. 
Hence,  a  most  delightful  drive,  througli  beautiful  pine  woods, 
wliich  (though  the  trees  are  not  so  fine)  somewhat  recalls  the 
famous  forest  of  Ravenna,  leads  to  the  bathing-place  of 
Gombo,  on  the  sandy  shore,  with  a  fine  view  to  the  north, 
along  the  coast  by  Viareggio,  to  the  beautiful  Carrara 
mountains. 

Rutilius  gives  an  extraordinary  account  of  the  Port  of 
Pisa,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Arno,  which  he  describes  as  un- 
protected by  art,  but  perfectly  secure,  because  such  was  the 
tenacity  of  the  weeds  with  which  it  was  interwoven,  as  to 
exclude  the  agitation  of  the  sea,  while  they  yielded  to  the 
weight  of  vessels. 


48o  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

"  Contiguum  stupui  portum,  quem  fama  frequentat 

Pisarum  emporio,  divitiisque  maris, 
Mira  loci  facies  !  pelago  pulsatur  aperto, 

Inque  omnes  ventos  littora  nuda  patent : 
Non  ullus  tegitur  per  brachia  tuta  recessus, 

^olias  possit  qui  prohibere  minas. 
Sad  procera  suo  praetexitur  alga  profundo, 

Molliter  offensae  non  nocitura  rati  : 
Et  tamen  insanas  cedendo  interligat  undas. 

Nee  sinit  exalto  grande  volumen  agi." 

///■«.  i.  533-540. 

From  the  Porta  Mare,  which  leads  to  the  Passeggiata,  an 
excursion  of  four  miles  may  be  made  on  the  Leghorn  road  to 
the  exceedingly  curious  old  Church  of  S.  Pietro  in  Grade, 
commemorating  in  its  name  the  landing-place  Gradus,  where 
S.  Peter  is  supposed  first  to  have  set  foot  in  Etruria.  It 
was  founded  towards  the  close  of  the'ioth,  but  is  chiefly  of 
the  13th  century.  It  is  a  three-aisled  basilica  with  ancient 
columns,  11  of  oriental  granite,  15  of  Greek  marble.  At 
the  east  end  is  a  great  tribune,  with  two  smaller  apses  at  the 
sides.  The  curious  frescoes  on  the  walls  are  attributed  by 
Morrona  to  Giunta  Pisano  (1202 — 1255),  on  account  of 
their  similarity  to  some  at  Assisi,  which  are  known  to  have 
been  executed  by  that  master. 

The  ancient  harbour  of  Pisa  must  have  been  on  this  spot, 
before  the  present  coast  was  formed. 


Five  miles  from  Pisa,  in  the  Valle  di  Calci,  is  the  Certosa, 
founded  in  1347.  The  buildings  are  modernized,  but  hand- 
some. The  Church  has  many  modem  paintings.  Near 
this  is  La  Verruca,  the  highest  point  of  the  Pisan  hills,  1765 
ft.  above  the  sea,  where,  from  the  ruin  of  an  old  fortress  of 
the  Republic,  is  a  most  beautiful  view. 


LEGHORN.  •  481 

It  is  only  i  hour  by  rail  from  Pisa  to  Leghorn  (Livorno). 

{Hotels.  Victoria  and  IVashington  (De  Vecchi),  8  Via  Colonnella,  near 
the  harbour,  excellent.  Gran  Bretagna,  Pensione  Suizzera,  17  Via  Vit- 
torio  Emanuele.  Sea  Baths,  with  linen,  i  fr.  An  omnibus  runs  con- 
stantly in  summer,  in  20  min.  to  the  Bagni  Casini  alf  Ardenza. 

British  Consulate.     Macbean,  17  Via  Borsa. 

Carriages.  The  course  (in  the  town),  85  c,  out  of  the  town,  i  fr. 
50  c. ;  I  hour,  I  fr.  70  c.  Night — to  and  from  the  railway,  i  fr.  80  c.  ; 
the  course,  i  fr.  15c.;  outside  the  town,  2  frs.  80  c. ;  the  hour,  2  frs. 
20  c. 

Fare  to  the  Steamers.  To  and  from  the  outer  harbour,  i  fr.  Luggage, 
30  c  each  piece.  To  and  from  the  inner  harbour,  i  fr.  From  the 
landing-place  to  the  hotel,  each  box,  80  c. ;  each  bag  40  c  It  is  im- 
portant to  be  well  up  in  this  legal  tariff  on  arriving  at  Leghorn,  where 
both  boatmen  and  porters  are  peculiarly  fierce  and  extortionate.) 

"  Dans  tous  les  autres  pays  du  monde,  il  y  a  moyen  de  defendre  son 
bagage,  de  faire  un  prix  pour  le  transporter  a  I'hotel,  et  si  I'on  ne  tombe 
pas  d'accord,  on  est  libre  de  la  charger  sur  ses  epaules,  et  de  faire  sa 
besogne  soi-meme.     A  Livourne,  rien  de  tout  cela. 

' '  La  barque  qui  vous  amene  n'a  pas  encore  touche  terre  qu'elle  est 
envahie ;  les  commissionnaires  pleuvent,  vous  ne  savez  pas  d'oii :  ile 
sautent  de  la  jetee,  ils  s'elancent  des  barques  voisines,  ils  se  laissent 
glisser  des  cordages  des  bailments.  Comme  vous  voyez  que  votre  canot 
va  chavirer  sous  le  poids,  vous  pensez  a  votre  propre  surete,  vous  cram- 
ponnez  au  mole,  puis,  apres  bien  des  efforts,  votre  chapeau  perdu,  vos 
genoux  en  sang  et  vos  ongles  retoumes,  vous  arrivez  sur  le  jetee.  Bien, 
voila  pour  vous  ;  quant  a  votre  bagage,  il  est  deja  divise  en  autant  de 
lots  qu'il  y  a  de  pieces  :  vous  avez  un  portefaix  pour  votre  malle,  un 
portefaix  pour  votre  necessaire,  un  portefaix  pour  votre  carton  a  chapeau, 
un  portefaix  pour  votre  parapluie,  et  un  portefaix  pour  votre  canne  ;  si 
vous  etes  de\ix,  cela  vous  fait  dix  portefaix  ;  si  vous  etes  trois,  cela  en 
fait  quinze, 

"Je  suis  retoume  trois  fois  a  Livourne.  Les  deux  demieres,  j'etais 
prevenu,  j'avais  pris  mes  precautions,  je  me  tenais  sur  mes  gardes  ; 
chaque  fois,  j'ai  paye  plus  cher.  En  arrivant  a  Livourne,  il  faut  faire, 
comme  en  traversant  les  marais  Pontins,  la  part  des  voleurs.  La  differ- 
ence est  qu'en  traversant  les  marais  Pontins,  on  en  rechappe  quelque- 
fois,  souvent  meme  ;  a  Livourne,  jamais." — Alexandre  Dumas. 

There  is  nothing  whatever  worth  seeing  in  Leghorn,  and 
no  one  would  think  of  staying  there  except  for  the  sea-bath- 
voL.  II.  31 


4S2  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

ing,  but  its  shops  are  sometimes  amusing.  The  place  is  full 
of  galley-slaves  who  do  all  the  dirty  work  of  the  town  in  red 
caps,  brown  vests,  and  yellow  trousers.  The  Cathedral  has 
a  fagade  by  Inigo  J^ones.  It  stands  in  the  handsome  Piazza 
d'  Armi,  where  also  are  the  Town  Hall  and  a  small  Royal 
Palace.  Near  the  harbour  is  a  statue,  by  Giovanni  dell' 
Opera,  of  the  Grand  Duke  Ferdinand  I.  (de'  Medici),  the 
Cardinal  who  mounted  the  throne  after  witnessing  the  death 
of  Bianca  Cappello  and  his  brother  Francesco.  The  four 
bronze  statues  of  Turkish  slaves  round  the  base,  are  by 
Pietro  Tacca. 

What  is  really  charming  is  the  Passeggiata  outside  the 
Porta  a  Mare,  leading  to  Ardenza,  an  enchanting  public 
walk  with  shrubberies,  close  to  the  sea.  The  waves  dash  up 
along  the  sea  wall  at  the  side,  and  the  Islands  of  Elba,  Gor- 
gona,  and  Capraja  may  be  seen  in  the  distance.  From  the 
same  gate  an  excursion  may  be  made  to  the  \<i'^-Monastery 
of  Monte-Nero,  built  1770,  in  honour  of  a  picture  of  the 
Virgin,  which  was  supposed  to  have  floated  to  Ardenza  by 
itself,  in  1345,  from  the  Island  of  Negropont :  it  is  now 
generally  attributed  to  Margaritone. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

VOLTERRA. 

"tomemo  a  Vulterra, 
Sopra  un  monte,  che  forte  e  anticha, 
Quanto  en  Toscana  niuna  altra  terra." 

Faccio  degli  Uberti. 

' '  Lordly  Volaterra 
Where  scowls  the  far-famed  hold 
Piled  by  the  hand  of  giants 

For  god-like  kings  of  old." — Macaulay. 

(Volterra  is  most  easily  reached  from  Pisa  by  the  branch  line  from 
Cecina  to  Le  Saline  (8  frs.  85  c.  ;  6  frs.  10  c.  ;  4  frs.  20  c),  where  an 
omnibus  (i  fr.  50  c)  meets  the  trains.  The  Albergo  Nazionale  is  a  clean 
and  good  country  inn  with  very  moderate  charges. ) 

1/OLTERRA,  as  the  ancient  Velathri,  was  one  of  the 
most  important  cities  of  Etruria, — and  especially  so 
from  her  position.  The  Etruscan  city  was  three  times  as 
large  as  the  existing  Volterra,  and  its  walls,  which  were  four 
or  five  miles  in  circuit,  may  be  traced  at  a  great  distance  from 
the  present  city.  It  is  believed  that  Volterra  was  one  of  the 
last  of  the  Etruscan  cities  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
Romans.  In  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  for  a  short  time  the 
residence  of  the  Lombard  kings,  and  greatly  as  it  has  de- 
creased in  size  and  importance,  it  has  at  no  time  been  wholly 
deserted.  In  the  13th  century,  in  which  most  of  the  prin- 
cipal buildings  were  erected,  the  town  had  a  revival.     Since 


484  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

then  its  prosperity  has  been  chiefly  due  to  its  Alabaster 
Works,  on  which  two-thirds  of  the  population  are  employed. 

The  town  is  approached  from  the  station  by  a  long  wind- 
ing hill.  On  nearing  the  walls  the  Etruscan  gate  is  seen  on 
the  left  of  the  road ;  then,  after  winding  under  the  Citadel, 
the  traveller  is  set  down  by  the  omnibus  close  to  the  piazza 
and  cathedral,  at  a  very  short  distance  from  the  inn. 

Turning  to  the  right  from  the  Albergo  Nazionale  and  de- 
scending a  steep  street  (the  streets  have  no  names  written 
up),  we  reach  the  famous  Etruscan  gate,  Porta  deir  Arco, 
still  used  as  a  gate  of  the  city.  It  is  adorned  on  the  outside 
with  three  colossal  heads,  and  is  a  double  gate  nearly  30  ft. 
deep  united  by  massive  walls.  Just  within  the  gate  on 
either  side  are  grooves  for  a  portcullis. 


Porta  deir  Arco,  Volterra. 


From  hence  the  Etruscan  antiquary  should  proceed  east- 
ward along  the  walls  of  the  modern  town  and  on  to  where, 
below  the  church  of  S.  Chiara,  are  some  magnificent  de- 
tached fragments  of  the  ancient  walls.     The  sixth  of  these 


ETRUSCAN  MUSEUM.  485 

is  forty  feet  high  and  a  hundred  and  forty  feet  in  length  :  the 
masses  are  rudely  hewn  and  put  together,  and  there  are  no 
traces  of  cement. 

Returning  up  the  hill  from  the  Porta  dell'  Arco  and  turn- 
ing left  into  the  Piazza,  we  find,  on  the  left,  the  stately 
Palazzo  Communale,  covered  with  shields  of  podestas,  some 
of  them  in  rich  terra-cotta  frames.  Here  is  the  exceedingly 
interesting  Etruscan  Museum,  entirely  devoted  to  objects 
collected  at  Volterra.  It  is  well  shown  by  an  intelligent 
custode.  Its  most  important  objects  are  all  sarcophagi  with 
remarkable  and  varied  decorations,  and  it  is  worthy  of  ob- 
servation, that  the  decoration  is  always  the  same  for  all  the 
members  of  the  same  family.  All  the  inscriptions  read  from 
right  to  left.     We  may  notice : — 

II,  12,  13,  14.  As  specimens  of  the  earliest  sarcophagi — being  all 
terra-cotta. 

In  the  succeeding  sarcophagi  the  decoration  of  flowers  indicates 
the  age  of  the  person  contained  ;  for  a  young  person  the  flower  is  single  ; 
for  a  middle-aged,  double  ;  for  an  old  person,  triple. 

In  the  centre  of  this  room  is  a  family  group  from  the  tomb  called 
I  Marmini.  The  female  figure  has  a  pomegranate,  the  sign  of  fecundity, 
in  her  hand ;  below  are  representations  of  marriage,  rearing  of  children, 
and  education  of  children.  As  the  art  advances  the  sarcophagi  are  of 
alabaster.  Here,  in  Volterra,  it  is  interesting  to  know  that  there  were 
alabaster  works  here  3855  years  ago.  In  the  subjects  on  these  sarco- 
phagi, one  family  have  a  representation  of  the  dead  person  about 
to  mount  for  departure  with  a  bag  full  of  good  and  evil  deeds  ;  another, 
of  the  same  already  mounted,  but  accompanied  to  the  last  by  his  rela- 
tions. 

No.  133  is  very  curious,  the  horses  drawing  the  funeral  car  are  repre- 
sented as  joining  in  the  grief  of  the  mourners. 

After  this  we  come  to  a  later  phase.  Triumphal  processions  are  re- 
presented, with  music  and  torches.  On  the  sarcophagi  of  warriors  who 
have  died  for  their  country,  a  Genius  holds  the  wheel,  the  symbol  of  im- 
mortality. Following  these  are  mythological  subjects,  Atalanta  and 
Meleager,  Ulysses  and  the  Sirens,  the  Riddle  of  Gidipus,  and  the  Birth 


486  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

and  Death  of  Minotaur.  The  former  is  quite  too  funny,  the  father  flies 
from  the  horrible  monster,  the  mother  cUngs  to  an  altar. 

In  No.  371,  372,  representing  the  Siege  of  Thebes,  the  Etruscan  gate 
of  Volterra,  Porta  dell'  Arco,  is  introduced . 

No.  23  is  a  gigantic  figure  found  at  the  entrance  of  a  sepulchre  and 
popularly  called  "  II  Sordato  Barbato." 

"The  cinerary  urns  of  Volterra  cannot  lay  claim  to  a  very  remote 
antiquity.  They  are  unquestionably  more  recent  than  those  of  many 
other  Etruscan  sites.  This  may  be  learned  from  the  style  of  art — the 
best,  indeed  the  only  safe  criterion — which  is  never  of  that  archaic  cha- 
racter found  on  certain  reliefs  on  the  altars  or  a/>// of  Chiusi  and  Perugia. 
The  freedom  and  mastery  of  design,  and  the  skill  in  composition,  at 
times  evinced,  bespeak  the  period  of  Roman  domination  ;  while  the  de- 
fects display  not  so  much  the  rudeness  of  early  art,  as  the  carelessness 
of  the  time  of  decadence." — Dennis. 

The  Library  contains  a  fresco  by  Orcagna  of  the  Madonna 
and  Saints.  There  is  a  small  collection  of  12th  and  13th- 
century  Ivories,  including  the  Pastoral  Staff  of  the  Carthusian 
Abbot  of  S.  Salvatore,  and  that  of  a  Bishop  of  the  12  th 
century.  The  Second  Room  contains  a  Crucifixion  of  the 
School  of  Giotto,  and  a  Madonna  by  Lodovico  di  Firmze. 
Amongst  the  smaller  objects  preserved  here  are  some  little 
vessels  of  spun  gold  and  glass,  very  precious  as  being  of  a 
manufacture  of  which  the  art  is  long  since  lost. 

Close  to  the  palace  is  the  Cathedral,  consecrated  in  11 20 
by  Calixtus  II.  Its  simple  and  handsome  west  front  was 
added  by  Niccolb  Pisano  in  1254.  The  interior  is  very  hand- 
some, though  much  injured  by  paint  and  stucco.  It 
contains  : — 

Right,  Over  door.     Fine  terra-cotta  statue  of  S.  Lino. 

Right  of  Right  Transept.  The  Oratory  of  S.  Carlo,  which  is  a  per- 
fect gallery  of  pictures. 

Over  door.     Bald.  Franceschini.     Madonna  and  Child,  with  saints. 

Right.  Filippiiio  Lippi.  Madonna  and  Child,  with  SS.  Bartolommeo 
and  Antonino. 


CATHEDRAL  OF  VOLTERRA.  4«7 

Leonardo  da  Pistoia.     Madonna  and  Child,  with  SS.   Se  lastian, 
Stephen,  Laurence,  and  Nicholas. 
'     Rosselli.     S.  Carlo  Borromeo. 

Beiivenuto  da  Siena.     The  Nativity.     The  gradino  is  by  Benozzo 

Gozzoli. 
Daniele  de  Volterra.     S.Joseph. 
Sodoma.     A  small  Crucifixion. 
End  IVall.     Camilla  Incontri,  finished  by  Guido  Rent.    The  Mag- 
dalen . 

By  a  Contadino  of  Volterra.     Francesco  and  Chiara. 
'    Left  Wall.     Pietro  at Alvaro  Portoghese.     Madonna  and  Child  with 
saints — a  triptych. 

Rosso  Fiorentino  (Nonfinito).     The  Deposition. 
Taddeo  Bartolo.     Madonna  and  Saints. 
Luca  Signorelli.     The  Annunciation. 
(Returning  to  the  Church)  Right  of  High  Altar  is  the  tomb  of  S. 
Octavian  by  Raffaelle  Cioli,  1525.     The  Angels  at  the  sides  of  the  High 
Altar  are  by  Mino  da  Fiesole. 
The  Pulpit  is  of  c.  1 150. 

"  Resting  on  four  columns,  supported  by  two  lions,  a  bull  and  a  fan- 
tastic figure,  the  breastwork  is  adorned  with  reliefs  ;  the  first  represents 
Abraham  on  the  point  of  sacrificing  Isaac,  and  restrained  by  an  angel 
hovering  down.  Then  follows  the  Annunciation,  in  which  an  angel 
likewise  appears  hovering  above  ;  lastly,  there  is  a  scene  of  Christ  sit- 
ting with  His  disciples  at  a  meal,  while  a  female  figure,  pursued  by  a 
tiger  and  a  serpent,  is  seeking  protection  at  his  feet.  Here  the  pro- 
found symbolic  element  of  Romanesque  Art  is  intermingled,  though  in 
form,  attitude,  and  drapery,  a  style  prevails,  which  is  evidently  bor- 
rowed from  the  antique. ''—ZuiJi^if. 

Left  of  Entrance.  The  tomb  of  Marco  Maffei,  Bishop  of  Cavaillon — 
1537- 

Opposite  the  cathedral,  standing  on  a  little  platform  over- 
looking the  valley,  is  the  Baptistery  of  S.  Giovanni^  which 
contains  : — 

Right.     Andrea  di  Sansoi'ino,  1502.     The  old  Font,  now  closed  up, 
with  reliefs  of  the  four  cardinal  virtues  and  the  Baptism  of  Christ. 
Left.     Mino  da  Fiesole,  147 1.     A  noble  Ciborium. 

Descending  the  steep  street  which  leads  from  the  corner 
of  the  piazza  to  the  lower  town,  we  find,  on  the  left,  the 


4&S  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Monastery  dedicated  to  S.  Lhto,  first  Bishop  of  Volterra. 
It  has  a  remarkably  pretty  vaulted  atrium  covered  with 
frescoes  by  Cosimo  Daddi,  and  contains  the  tomb  of  the 
founder  Raffaelle  Maffei,  1523,  with  his  statue  by  Sylvio  da 
Fiesole  and  ornaments  by  Fra  Angela  MontorsoU. 

Just  beyond  this,  on  the  right,  is  the  Church  of  S.  Fran- 
cesco. On  the  right  of  the  high  altar  is  the  entrance  to  the 
Cappella  della  Confraternity  delta  Croce  di  Giomo  of  13 15, 
decorated  with  frescoes  representing  the  Life  of  the  Baptist 
and  the  finding  of  the  True  Cross,  by  Cennino,  1410. 

It  is  well  worth  while  to  pass  out  of  the  adjoining  Porta 
S-  Francesco  and  go  straight  on  down  the  road  (through  a 
village)  for  about  a  mile  in  order  to  visit  the  extraordinary 
landslip  called  Le  Baize.  From  the  left  of  the  road,  just 
under  the  Badia  di  S.  Salvatore,  you  look  down  into  the 
most  frightful  chaos.  The  rains,  washing  away  the  lower 
strata  of  blue  clay,  are  perpetually  carrying  down  vast  masses 
of  the  upper  sandstone,  and  all  attempts  to  stop  it  have  been 
in  vain.  It  is  a  horrible  scene,  looking  down  into  the  rifts 
and  precipices  of  an  arid  and  ghastly  desert,  and  with  the 
feeling  that  the  flowery  surface  on  which  you  are  standing 
may  be  hurled  into  destruction  to-morrow.  On  the  hill-side 
behind  are  tolerably  perfect  remains  of  some  walls  of  the  old 
Velathrum,  now  at  a  great  distance  from  Volterra. 

In  the  opposite  direction,  turning  left  from  the  hotel,  are 
the  Church  of  S.  Michele,  with  a  good  Lombard  front  of 
1285  ;  the  Church  of  S.  Agostino,  containing  a  picture  of  the 
Purification  by  II  Volterrano,  1630  ;  and  the  Citadel,  where 
the  mathematician  Lorenzo  Lorenzini  was  imprisoned,  1682 
— 1693,  by  Cosimo  III.  in  the  Torre  del  Mastio. 


VILLA  INGHIRAMI.  4S9 

Outside  the  gate  near  this  is  the  Convent  of  S.  Fraficesco, 
containing  two  good  works  of  the  Robbia  school. 

Outside  the  Porta  Selce  also,  on  the  east  of  Volterra,  is  the 
Villa  Inghirami,  with  the  strange  rock  labyrinth  called 
Le  Buche  dei  Saracini,  and  a  well-preserved  Etruscan  tomb 
with  forty-eight  urns  remaining  iji  situ.  As  all  the  contents 
of  the  other  principal  tomb,  I  Marmini,  have  been  removed 
to  the  Museum,  it  is  scarcely  worth  visiting.  The  tomb  is 
circular,  about  1 7  ft.  in  diameter,  with  a  pillar  in  the  centre 
and  a  triple  tier  of  benches  round  the  walls,  all  hewn  from  the 
rock,  on  which  the  sepulchral  urns  were  placed.  Near  this 
are  the  ruins  of  another  double  gate  of  the  city — Porta  di 
Diana. 

Through  the  valley  below  the  town  runs  the  little  river 
Cecina,  where  the  young  poet  MaruUo  Tarcagnota  was 
drowned  as  he  was  returning  from  Volterra,  whither  he  had 
gone  to  visit  his  friend  II  Volterrano.  This  event  inspired 
a  Latin  elegy  of  Ariosto. 

The  rich  Copper  Mines  of  Monte  Catini  and  the  Boracic 
Acid  Works  of  Count  Lardarel  at  Lardarello,  near  Fomerance, 
the  birthplace  of  II  Pomerancio — Cristoforo  Roncalli — 
may  be  visited  from  Volterra,  by  those  who  have  an  interest 
in  such  things.  The  country  is  savage  and  desolate.  About 
8  miles  from  Pomerance  is  the  fine  ruined  Castle  of  Rocca 
Silana. 


CHAPTER  XLVL 

LUCCA. 

aT  is  rather  more  than  half-an-hour — ten  miles — ^by  rail 
from  Pisa  to  Lucca  (2  frs. ;  i  fr.  55  c.  ;  i  fr.   15  c), 
passing — 

6".  Gm/t'ano  (StSit).  The  BagnidiS.  Gt'u/i'ano,  the  Aquss 
Pisanae  of  Pliny  (ii.  103),  about  4  m.  from  the  city,  have  two 
warm  springs.  The  temperature  of  the  Bagno  Orientale  is 
109°  Fahrenheit,  that  of  the  Bagno  degU  Ebrei,  84°  Fahren- 
heit. There  are  twelve  private  baths,  named  from  the 
heathen  gods,  and  one  for  the  poor.  Behind  the  baths  rises 
the  hill  mentioned  in  Dante — 

"  Perche  i  Pisan  veder  Lucca  non  ponno." — Inf.  xxxiii.  30. 

Ripafratta  (Stat.).  Here  there  is  a  picturesque  mediaeval 
castle. 

"  The  Serchio,  twisting  forth 
Between  the  marble  barriers  which  it  clove 
At  Ripafratta,  leads  through  the  dread  chasm 
The  wave  that  died  the  death  which  lovers  love, 
I^iving  in  what  it  sought ;  as  if  this  spasm 
Had  not  yet  past,  the  toppling  mountains  cling, 
But  the  clear  stream  in  full  enthusiasm 
Pours  itself  on  the  plain,  until  wandering 
Down  one  clear  path  of  effluence  crj'stalline 
Sends  its  clear  waves,  that  they  may  fling 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  L  UCCA.  49 1 

At  Arno's  feet  tribute  of  corn  and  wine  : 
Then,  through  the  pestilential  deserts  wild 
Of  tangled  marsh  and  woods  of  stunted  fir 
It  rushes  to  the  Ocean." — Shelley.) 

Lucca  rindustriosa  is  a  very  flourishing  and  prosperous 
place.  It  is  largely  frequented  by  the  best  Tuscan  families, 
and  there  is  very  agreeable  society  here. 

(Hotels.  Universo  (Nieri),  in  the  Piazza  Grande,  most  excellent  and 
reasonable.  It  has  a  small  garden,  and  its  large  lofty  rooms  are  cool  and 
airy  in  summer.  This  inn  deserves  special  notice,  because,  without 
losing  its  character  as  an  Italian  Albergo,  it  has  all  the  comfort  and 
cleanliness  which  English  travellers  desire.     Croce  di  Malta. 

Restaurant,  Corona,  near  the  Porta  S.  Pietro. 

Carriages.  For  the  Bagni,  or  for  drives.  Giuseppe  Menchetti,  Via 
del  Gallo. 

The  shady  ramparts  of  Lucca  and  its  beautiful  surround- 
ings made  it  a  favourite  summer  resort,  but  its  attractions 
have  been  greatly  lessened  since  the  accession  of  the  Sar- 
dinian government,  by  the  cruel  destruction  of  the  splendid 
avenues  upon  its  walls—  the  most  beautiful  public  walks  in 
any  town  of  Italy,  and  nowhere  are  the  philanthropic  interests 
and  refined  taste  of  the  Grand-ducal  family  more  missed, 
than  in  this — the  peculiar  city  of  their  predilection. 

Lucca  was  a  Ligurian  town,  and  was  considered  as  such  till  the  reign 
of  Augustus.  In  the  Gothic  wars  of  Narses  it  was  a  strong  and  important 
fortress.  In  13 14  it  was  subdued  by  Uguccione  della  Faggiuola,  Lord  of 
Pisa,  with  whom  Dante  resided  here  in  1314,  and  here  became  en- 
amoured of  Gentucca,  mentioned  in  the  Purgatorio  (x\\\.  23).  In  13 16 
Dante  fled  further,  to  Verona,  where  Uguccione  was  also  obliged  to 
seek  a  refuge,  when  his  son  Neri  seized  his  government.  In  1315 
Lucca  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  powerful  Castruccio  Castracane,  who 
ruled  it  for  twelve  years  with  the  title  of  '^  Defensore  delle  parte  imperiale  e 
capitano  lucchese."  On  his  death  in  1328  the  power  of  Lucca  began  to 
decline,  and  in  1342  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Pisa,  under  which  it 
endured  a  "Babylonish  captivity"  of  27  years.  In  1369,  however, 
Lucca  purchased  its  freedom  from  the  Emperor  Charles  IV.  for  ioo,cxDO 


492  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

gulden,  and  remained  a  republic  under  a  Gonfaloniere  della  Giustizia, 
with  a  golden  book  like  that  of  Venice,  till  the  French  invasion  of  1 799. 
In  1805  Napoleon  I.  gave  Lucca  as  a  Duchy  to  his  sister  Eliza  Bac- 
ciochi.  In  1817  it  fell  to  the  Bourbon  Dukes  of  Parma,  by  whom,  in 
1847,  it  was  ceded  to  Tuscany,  under  whose  Grand-dukes  it  returned  to 
more  than  its  former  prosperity. 

The  one  great  native  artist  of  Lucca  was  the  sculptor  Matteo  Civitali, 
1435 — I50l>  but  it  possesses  many  important  paintings  by  great  masters, 
and  to  the  architect  its  buildings  are  deserving  of  the  most  careful 
study. 

"The  city  which  formed  the  favourite  winter-quarters  of  the  first 
Caesar,  the  city  which,  if  enslaved,  was  also  glorified  by  the  genius  of 
Castruccio  Castracani,  the  city  which  preserved  its  republican  independ- 
ence for  two  centuries  and  a  half  after  Florence  and  Siena  had  fallen, 
is  a  city  rich  in  attractions,  both  of  nature  and  art.  Lucca  is  remarkable 
for  the  prodigious  number  of  objects,  all  of  more  or  less  importance, 
which  it  presents,  without  possessing  any  one  building  absolutely  of  the 
first  rank." — Freeman. 

On  leaving  the  station  and  entering  the  town  by  the  Porta 
S.  Pietro,  the  Via  di  Porta  S.  Pietro  leads  into  the  Piazza 
Grande  or  del  Giglio,  decorated  (1843)  with  a  statue  of 
Maria  Luisa  by  Bartolini.  On  the  west  (left)  stands  the 
Palazzo  Pubblico,  formerly  the  Ducal  Palace,  begun  in  1578 
hy  Bart.  Ammanati  axid  finished  in  1729  by  yuvara  and 
Pini.     It  is  nothing  very  remarkable. 

Passing  the  Hotel  Universo,  on  the  east  of  this  piazza, 
the  Via  del  Duomo  leads  to  the  noble  Cathedral  of  S. 
Martino,  the  first  view  of  which  is  most  imposing. 

"  The  Duomo  was  begun  in  1063  by  Bishop  Anselm,  who,  three 
years  later,  as  Pope  Alexander  II.,  blessed  the  enterprise  of  the  Norman 
invader  of  England.  The  great  apse  is  clearly  the  oldest  part  of  the 
church,  and  is  doubtless  a  remnant,  the  only  remaining  remnant,  of  the 
church  begun  by  Anselm.  The  style  is  not  very  rich,  but  very  highly 
finished,  Romanesque,  such  as  in  any  Northern  country  would  belong 
to  the  twelfth  century,  and  not  to  its  earliest  years.  A  range  of  tall 
columnar  arcades,  of  which  the  alternate  members  are  pierced  for 
windows,  supports  an  open  gallery  after  the  Italian  and  German  fashion. 


CATHEDRAL  OF  LUCCA.  493 

This  apse  is  a  grand  and  stately  work,  and  it  supplies  a  striking  contrast 
to  the  minute,  elaborate,  and  even  fantastical  ornament  of  the  west 
front.  This,  as  the  dated  inscriptions  bear  witness,  was  built  during  the 
first  forty  years  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  shows  what  the  Italian 
Romanesque  could  grow  into  without  any  foreign  intennixture.  In  the 
lowest  stage  three  magnificent  arches  form  a  vast  portico  within  which 
are  the  actual  doorways  ;  above,  are  three  ranges  of  open  galleries, 
covered  in  their  capitals,  shafts,  and  cornices,  with  all  the  devices  of  an 
exuberant  fancy.  This  type  of  front,  with  the  omission  of  the  portico, 
is  the  form  which  is  followed  in  a  large  class  of  west  fronts  in  Lucca. " — 
Freeman. 

The  fagade  was  begun  in  1204  by  one  Giudetto,  next 
followed  the  Atrium  in  1233,  and  the  rest  of  the  building 
c.  1320. 

The  door  on  the  left  has  a  lunette  of  the  Deposition  from 
the  Cross,  which  is  of  great  interest  as  being  the  first  essay 
of  Niccolo  Pisano  as  a  sculptor. 

"  The  old  legend  of  the  taking  down  of  our  Lord's  body  from  the 
cross,  which  is  closely  followed  in  this  composition,  says  that  '  while 
Nicodemus  drew  forth  the  nails  which  fastened  the  feet,  Joseph  of 
Arimathea  sustained  the  body,  so  that  the  head  and  arms  of  the  dead 
Saviour  hung  over  his  shoulder,  and  the  afflicted  mother,  seeing  this, 
rose  on  her  feet,  and  she  took  the  bleeding  hands  of  her  son  as  they 
hung  down,  and  clasped  them  in  her  own,  and  kissed  them  tenderly. ' 

"  In  the  bas-relief,  the  two  Marys  kneel  behind  the  standing  figure  of 
the  Virgin,  who  holds  one  of  our  Lord's  arms  ;  and  on  the  opposite  side, 
behind  S.  John,  who  holds  the  other,  stand  two  figures,  in  front  of 
whom  kneels  a  man,  who  seems  to  be  holding  the  crown  of  thorns. 
The  centre  is  occupied  by  the  grandly  conceived  form  of  Joseph  of 
Arimathea,  who  sustains  the  drooping,  lifeless  body  of  our  Lord  in  his 
arms,  while  Nicodemus  detaches  it  from  the  cross,  which  is  planted 
upon  a  rock,  in  whose  hollow  cavity  is  placed  a  skull,  to  mark  the  spot 
as  Golgotha." — Perkins'  Tuscan  Sculptors. 

Beneath  this  is  a  reUef  of  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi 
attributed  to  Giovattni,  son  of  Niccolo.  The  reliefs  between 
the  doors  tell  the  story  of  S.  Martin,  and  beneath  are  the 
months  with  their  attributes. 


494  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

The  Interior  is  very  beautiful  and  more  solemn  than  most 
Italian  churches.  A  dim  light  falls  through  the  narrow- 
stained  windows  upon  the  pavement  inlaid  with  patterns  of 
coloured  marble.  The  central  window  in  the  choir  bears 
the  name  of  the  artist,  Patidolfo  di  Ugolino  da  Pisa.  From 
the  roof  of  the  nave  hangs  a  wrought-iron  cresset  in  which 
by  ancient  custom  one  of  the  many  honorary  privileges 
which  once  distinguished  the  Archbishops  of  Lucca  is  still 
maintained.  Whenever  he  officiates  pontifically  it  is  filled 
with  flax,  and  as  the  flames  blaze  up  and  die  away,  the  choir 
chants — "  Sic  transit  gloria  mundi."  Here  also  by  an 
ancient  right  the  canons  officiate  in  mitres  and  pectorals, 
while  the  chaplains  of  Lucca  have  the  power  of  wearing  the 
"  cappa  magna." 

On  the  left  of  the  nave  stands  the  little  Temple  o{  Matteo 
Civitale,  which  forms  a  shrine  for  the  Palladium  of  Lucca, 
a  cedar-wood  Crucifix  of  Eastern  origin,  of  the  8th  or  gth 
century,  supposed  to  have  been  carved  by  Nicodemus  with 
the  assistance  of  an  angel.  The  actual  image  is  only  shown 
on  great  festivals,  a  representation  of  it  may  be  seen  through 
the  bars.  It  is  interesting  that  the  favourite  oath  of  William 
Rufus  was — "per  vultum  de  Lucca,"  The  golden  lamp 
which  hangs  before  the  shrine  was  presented  in  1836  in  the 
hope  of  averting  the  cholera. 

' '  This  oratory  was  completed  in  1444  for  Domenico  Galignano,  and 
is  without  doubt  a  beautiful  and  well-proportioned  stnicture.  Matteo 
Civitale  also  sculptured  a  marble  figure  of  S.  Sebastian  (at  the  back  of 
the  chapel),  in  fiill  relief,  and  very  beautiful,  the  drawing  being  good, 
the  attitude  graceful,  the  execution  delicate,  and  the  whole  carefully 
finished. " —  Vasari. 

"The  cathedral  of  Lucca  contains  some  Relics,  which  have  un- 
doubtedly worked  miracles  on  the  imagination  of  people  hereabouts. 
The  grandfather  of  all  Relics  (as  the  Arabs  would  say)  in  the  place  is  the 


CATHEDRAL  OF  LUCCA.  495 

Volto  Santo,  which  is  a  face  of  the  Saviour  appertaining  to  a  wooden 
crucifix.  Now  you  must  know  that,  after  the  ascension  of  Christ,  Nico- 
demus  was  ordered  by  an  angel  to  carve  an  image  of  him ;  and  went 
accordingly  with  a  hatchet  and  cut  down  a  cedar  for  that  purpose.  He 
then  proceeded  to  carve  the  figure ;  and  being  tired,  fell  asleep  before  he 
had  done  the  face  ;  which  however,  on  awaking,  he  found  completed  by 
celestial  aid.  This  image  was  brought  to  Lucca,  from  Leghorn,  I  think, 
where  it  had  arrived  in  a  ship,  'more  than  a  thousand  years  ago,'  and 
has  ever  since  been  kept,  in  purple  and  fine  linen  and  gold  and  diamonds, 
quietly  working  miracles.  I  saw  the  gilt  shrine  of  it ;  and  also  a  hatchet 
which  refused  to  cut  off  the  head  of  an  innocent  man,  who  had  been  con- 
demned to  death,  and  who  prayed  to  the  Volto  Santo." — John  Sterling's 
Letters. 

Making  the  round  of  the  church,  we  may  observe  : — 

Right  of  Entrance,  1st  Altar.     Passignano.     The  Nativity. 

2nd  Altar.     F.  Zucchero.     The  Adoration  of  the  Magi. 

2,rd  Altar.     Tintoret.     The  Last  Supper, 

^th  Altar.     Passignano.     Crucifixion — a  very  solemn  picture. 

The  beautiful  Pulpit  of  1498  is  by  Matteo  Civ  Hale. 

Sacristy.  Dom.  Ghirlandajo.  Madonna  and  Child,  with  SS.  Peter, 
Clemente,  Sebastiano,  and  Paul — very  beautiful.  The  predella  has  a 
scene  from  the  lives  of  each  of  these  saints.  Here,  under  lock  and 
key,  is  kept  the  curious  Gothic  cross,  called  "  Croce  dei  Pisani," 
executed  in  1350  by  Bettuccio  Baroni. 

Chapel  near  Sacristy.  Leonardo  da  Grazia  da  Pistoia  (signed).  The 
Annunciation. 

Right  Transept.  The  beautiful  tomb  of  Pietro  da  Noceto,  secretary 
of  Pope  Nicholas  V.,  by  Matteo  Civitali,  1472  ;  also  the  tomb  of 
Domenico  Bertini,  1479,  the  friend  and  patron  of  Civitali,  with  his 
bust. 

Cappella  del  Sagramento  (opposite  Noceto's  tomb).  Two  praying 
angels  by  M.  Civitali.  Beyond  this  chapel  (right),  the  Altar  of  S. 
Regulus,  with  his  grand  figure  between  S.  Sebastian  and  S.  J.  Baptist,  and 
their  three  martyrdoms  beneath,  by  Civitali.  S.  Regulus  was  an  African 
bishop  who  fled  from  the  disputes  between  Catholics  and  Arians,  and 
was  martyred  here  (beheaded)  by  Totila.  The  legend  says  that  he 
carried  his  head  for  two  stadia  after  his  death,  when  he  met  some  of  his 
disciples  and  delivered  it  up  to  them. 

Left  of  Choir.  The  Altar  of  Liberty — dedicated  "  Christo  Liberator], 
ac  Divis  Tutelaribus  "  after  the  deliverance  of  Lucca  from  Pisa  in  1369 — 


496  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

by  Giovanni  da  Bologna.  It  is  decorated  with  statuettes  of  the  Baptist, 
S.  Peter,  and  S.  Paulinos,  1st  Bishop  of  Lucca,  and  a  relief  of  the 
Resurrection. 

On  the  wall  close  by  is  (hung  too  high  up),  by  Daniile  da  Volterra, 
1509,  S.  Petronilla. 

Left  of  Choir.  2nd  Chapel.  Fra  Bartolomnuo.  Madonna  with  SS. 
Stephen  and  John  Baptist — a  noble  picture,  the  angel  at  the  foot  of  the 
throne  quite  exquisitely  beautiful. 

Left  Transept.  Jacopo  della  Quercia,  1544.  Tomb  of  Ilaria  Guinigi, 
Marchesa  de  Carretto  (ob.  1405),  wife  of  Paolo  Guinigi,  Lord  of 
Lucca. 

"It  is  not  more  beautiful  or  perfect  than  other  examples  of  the  same 
period,  but  furnishes  an  instance  of  the  exact  and  right  mean  between  the 
rigidity  and  rudeness  of  the  earlier  monumental  elfigies,  and  the  morbid 
imitations  of  life,  sleep,  or  death,  of  which  the  fashion  has  taken  place 
in  modern  times.  Ilaria  is  lying  on  a  simple  couch,  with  a  hound  at  her 
feet  (emblem  of  conjugal  fidelity),  not  on  the  side,  but  with  the  head 
laid  straight  and  simply  on  the  hard  pillow,  in  which,  let  it  be  observed, 
there  is  no  deceptive  imitation  of  pressure  (?).  It  is  understood  as  a 
pillow,  but  not  to  be  mistaken  for  one.  The  hair  is  bound  up  in  a  flat 
braid  over  the  fair  brow,  the  sweet  and  arched  eyes  are  closed,  the  ten- 
derness of  the  loving  lips  is  set  and  quiet ;  th^re  is  that  about  them  which 
forbids  breath  ;  something  which  is  not  death  nor  sleep,  but  the  pure 
image  of  both.  The  hands  are  not  lifted  in  prayer,  neither  folded  ;  but 
the  arms  are  laid  at  length  upon  the  body,  and  the  hands  cross  as  they 
fall.  The  feet  are  hidden  by  the  drapery,  and  the  forms  of  the  limbs 
are  concealed,  but  not  their  tenderness. 

"If  any  of  us,  after  staying  for  a  time  beside  this  tomb,  could  see, 
through  his  tears,  one  of  the  vain  and  unkind  encumbrances  of  the  grave, 
which,  in  these  hollow  and  heartless  days,  feigned  sorrow  builds  to 
foolish  pride,  he  would,  I  believe,  receive  such  a  lesson  of  love  as  no 
coldness  could  refuse,  no  fatuity  forget,  and  no  insolence  disobey." — 
Ruskin,  Modern  Painters,  ii.  66. 

Left  Aisle,  $tA  Altar.     Jacopo  Ligozzi.     The  Visitation. 

2nd  Altar.  Angelo  Bronzino.  Presentation  of  the  Virgin  in  the  Tem- 
ple. The  faces  are  most  beautiful,  and  of  the  greatest  variety,  especially 
an  old  withered  hag  in  the  corner,  and  a  little  child  playing  with  a  dog. 

Left  of  Entrance.  Cosimo  Rosselli — a  fresco.  The  Deposition  from 
the  Cross,  and  the  carving  of  the  "  Volto  Santo"  by  Nicodemus,  and 
its  transportation  to  Lucca. 

Opposite  the  cathedral  is  the  Church  of  S.  Giovanni^  a 


I 


PALAZZO  GUINIGI,  S.  FRANCESCO.  497 

basilica,  stately  and  beautiful  internally,  with  antique  columns 
and  a  wooden  roof.  The  architrave  of  the  principal  door  has 
a  relief  of  the  Virgin  and  twelve  Apostles,  of  the  nth  cen- 
tury. From  the  left  transept  is  the  entrance  of  the  ancient 
Baptistery,  but  the  font  is  modern  \  here  are  a  good  stained 
window  and  a  fresco  of  the  Marriage  of  S.  Catherine.  At 
the  entrance  of  this  transept  is  the  tomb  of  Giovanni  Farina, 
1826.  Behind  the  cathedral  is  the  Vescovado,  and  behind 
this  the  beautiful  little  Gothic  Church  of  S.  Maria  ddia  Rosa 
of  ^'h'SZ-  The  arrangement  of  the  interior  is  very  graceful, 
a  wide  vaulted  nave  separated  by  slender  pillars  from  very 
narrow  aisles;  in  the  lunettes  of  the  vaulting  are  frescoes. 
Ascending  the  Via  della  Rosa,  on  the  right  is  the 
Church  of  S.  Maria  Forisportam  (once  outside  the  city 
walls),  a  Lombard  building  of  1260,  heightened  and  altered 
in  15 16.  The  interior  is  very  simple  and  handsome.  It 
contains  good  pictures  by  Guercino.  An  antique  column 
rises  in  the  piazza  before  the  church. 

Proceeding  north  from  hence  by  the  Via  dell'  Angelo 
Custode,  on  the  left,  at  the  corner  of  the  Via  S.  Simeone,  is 
the  grand  old  Palazzo  Guinigi,  with  a  machicolated  tower 
and  two  ranges  of  windows,  each  formed  by  four  beautiful 
Gothic  trefoil  arches  enclosed  in  a  circular  arch.  Following 
Via  Angelo  Custode  and  Via  Nuova,  we  reach  the  Church  of 
S.  Pietro  Somaldo,  with  a  fine  brick  campanile,  and  a  marble 
facade  of  12 13.  Behind  this  church  the  Via  della  Fratta 
leads  to  the  Church  of  S.  Francesco,  with  an  early  canopied 
tomb  on  either  side  of  the  west  entrance.  It  is  a  single  nave 
(66  ft.  wide)  with  a  wooden  roof,  containing  (right)  the  tomb 
of  the  famous  Castruccio  Castracane,  Lord  of  Lucca,  ob. 
Sept.  3,  1328,  commemorated  in  the  verses  of  Dante  and 

VOL.    II.  32 


498  ITALIAN  CiriES. 

the  fresco  of  Orcagna.  Close  by,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
altar  of  S.  Francesco,  is  the  tomb  of  the  learned  bishop  Gio- 
vanni Guidiccioni,  an  excellent  work  of  the  i6th  century. 
The  present  government  have  turned  this  church,  so  in- 
teresting to  the  Lucchesi,  into  a  military  magazine  !  Hence, 
returning  to  S.  Pietro,  following  the  Via  della  Croce  and 
turning  left,  in  the  Piazza  del  Mercato,  are  the  remains  of  a 
Roman  Amphitheatre,  two  arcades  of  54  arches.  The  arena 
is  now  used  as  a  market. 

Close  to  this,  and  to  the  walls,  is  the  noble  Church  of  S. 
Frediano — "  Basilica  Longobardorum,"  founded  in  685  by 
Faulo,  the  major-domo  of  the  Lombard  king  Cunibert. 

S.  Frediano  was  an  Irish  saint,  who  migrated  hither,  and  became 
Bishop  of  Lucca  in  the  6th  century.  He  is  chiefly  celebrated  from  the 
legend  of  his  having  turned  the  course  of  the  Serchio  during  an  inunda- 
tion, by  marking  out  the  line  of  its  new  bed  with  a  harrow. 

The  facade  is  of  the  12th  century,  and  bears  a  mosaic  of 
Christ  adored  by  angels  and  the  apostles,  with  the  inscrip- 
tion : — 

Alta  viri  cceli  spectatur  cor  Galilei 
Iste  Dei  natus  Galilei  nube  elevatus. 

"The  second  church  in  the  city,  the  great  Abbey  of  S.  Fredianus, 
has  a  front  whose  general  design  is  bare  and  awkward,  but  its  central 
compartment  deserves  notice.  There  are  neither  arcades  nor  wheel 
window.  Over  a  small  blank  colonnade — not  an  arcade — is  a  single 
small  window,  and  abore  that  a  magnificent  mosaic  picture,  reminding 
one  of  those  at  S.  Mark's,  to  which  the  whole  design  of  the  front  is 
evidently  sacrificed." — Freetnan. 

On  entering  the  church  the  most  conspicuous  object  is 
the  very  curious  old  Font,  of  1 1 5 1,  by  Magister  Rohertus.  It 
is  covered  with  quaint  sculpture.  The  Israelites  are  re- 
presented passing  through  the  Red  Sea  clad  in  chain  armour. 


\ 


^.  FREDIANO.  499 

with  odd-looking  fishes  swimming  under  their  feet.  Near 
this  are  an  Annunciation  and  the  figure  of  a  Saint,  fine 
works  of  the  Robbia  school.  The  new  font  is  by  Niccolo 
Civitali,  nephew  of  Matteo.  Besides  these,  in  making  the 
round  of  the  church,  we  see  : — 

Right  of  Entrance.  Amico  Aspertini  (one  of  the  best  scholars  of 
Francia)  —a  fresco.     Madonna  and  Saints. 

Chapel  near  the  Font.  Tomb  of  Santa  Zita  the  patroness  of  servants, 
who  entered  the  Fantinelli  family  as  a  maid  in  her  I2th  year,  and  served 
them  faithfully  for  48  years.  On  the  festa  of  the  saint  (April  27)  when  the 
aged  mummy  is  exposed,  dressed  in  green  satin  and  lace,  the  concourse  is 
so  great  that  armed  soldiers  have  to  be  placed  at  the  doors  of  the 
chapel  to  prevent  a  crush.  Relics  and  lives  of  S.  Zita  are  sold  in 
the  piazza,  and  her  shrine  is  visited  by  every  domestic  servant  in  Lucca 
and  its  neighbourhood,  each  offering  a  nosegay  on  the  altar,  which 
becomes  piled  with  flowers — a  curious  and  pretty  sight. 

"  Sainte  Zita  est  la  Pamela  de  la  legende  :  c'etait  une  pauvre  sei-vante 
que  son  maitre  voulait  seduire.  Toutes  les  villes  d'ltalie,  au  moyen 
age,  avaient  ainsi  un  patron  ou  une  patronne  dans  le  ciel,  comme  les 
anciens  adoraient  le  genie  du  lieu,  la  divinite  protectrice  du  pays. 
L'humble  et  chaste  servante  de  Lucques  a  ete  la  patronne  d'une  re- 
publique  guerriere.  Les  grands  et  terribles  chefs  du  xiv^  siecle, 
Uguccione  della  Faggiola,  Castruccio  Castracani,  se  sont  inclines 
devant  son  image.  lis  ont  passe  rapidement :  leurs  tombes  ne  se 
trouvent  plus  dans  la  ville  ou  ils  ont  regne  ;  la  cendre  de  Zita  y  repose 
encore,  et  Dante  a  prononce  son  nom." — Avipire. 

Left  of  Entrance.     Ridolfo  Ghirlandajo.     The  Visitation. 

Left,  2nd  Chapel  {ol  S.  Agostino).  A  series  of  frescoes  by  Amico 
A  spertini,  of  the  History  of  Lucca  and  the  Volto  Santo. 

"  Delicately  and  carefully  executed,  with  exquisite  special  detail, 
they  betray  all  varieties  of  impression  as  they  were  taken  up  en  passant 
by  a  phantast  who  never  became  truly  formed  and  independent." — 
Burckhardt. 

4/^  Chapel  (del  S.  Sacramento).  Altar-piece  of  a  Madonna  and  four 
saints,  1422,  by  Jacobus  Magistri  Petri  de  Senis. 

Left  PVall  near  High  Altar.  The  Miraculous  Stone  of  S.  Frediano, 
which  he  is  said  to  have  lifted  with  his  canons  from  its  quarry,  and 
placed  in  a  cart  drawn  by  wild  cows,  who  brought  it  to  its  present 
resting-place. 

Right  (Opposite  the  C.  del  Sacramento).     Francesco  Francia.     The 


500  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Reception  of  the  Virgin  in  heaven.  Below,  David,  Solomon,  S. 
Anselm,  S.  Augustine,  and  a  Monk,  standing  by  the  tomb  filled  with 
flowers — a  most  beautiful  picture.  * 

From  S.  Frediano,  the  Via  del  Liceo  and  the  Via  S- 
Lucia  lead  to  the  Church  of  S.  Michele. 

"  San  Michele  was  originally  founded  by  Teutprandus  and  Gumfranda 
his  wife,  in  764 ;  and  the  bulk  of  the  fabric  belongs  to  that  date.  At 
that  time  the  archangel,  for  whom  a  particular  devotion  had,  in  the 
preceding  century,  been  imported  from  Apulia  into  the  north  of  Italy, 
was  the  favourite  protector  of  the  Lombards.  But  the  rich  facciata, 
to  which  this  church  owes  its  celebrity,  was  added  at  a  much  later 
period,  in  11 88,  when  Lucca  was  a  free  town,  and  its  inhabitants 
resolved  to  do  credit  to  themselves  by  adding  splendour  to  their  public 
buildings.  In  1188  the  celebrated  architect  Giudetto,  who  was  after- 
wards employed  to  decorate  the  cathedral  in  the  same  manner,  was 
called  upon  to  ennoble  the  west  end  of  S.  Michele.  The  idea  of  this 
facciata,  is  evidently  taken  from  the  cathedral  of  Pisa,  though  executed 
in  the  more  florid  style  which  had  subsequently  come  into  fashion.  If 
this  facciata  sins  against  classical  rules  in  the  multiplicity  and  irregularity 
of  the  orders  of  its  columns,  in  their  variety  and  over  enrichment,  it 
nevertheless  produces  a  grand  and  imposing  effect.  The  whole  is  con- 
structed of  white  marble  from  the  quarries  in  the  neighbourhood.  The 
statue  of  the  archangel  at  the  summit  is  of  colossal  size.  The  wings 
are  composed  of  separate  plates  of  bronze,  so  contrived  as  to  suffer  the 
wind  to  pass  through  them  freely,  lest  it  should  have  a  dangerous  pur- 
chase upon  so  large  a  mass  completely  exposed  to  its  power.  Nothing 
more  was  done  at  S.  Michele  during  the  thraldom  of  Lucca,  but  when 
Lucca  was  again  enfranchised  the  second  order  of  the  lateral  colonnade 
was  added.  The  colonnade  is  sufficiently  in  harmony  with  the  facciata, 
but  evinces  the  greater  degree  of  purity  of  taste  which  by  that  time 
began  to  prevail." — //.  Gaily  Knight. 

The  church  contains  : — 

Right,  1st  Altar.     Filippo  Lippi.     Four  Saints. 

In  the  piazza  in  which  this  church  stands  is  a  modern 
statue  of  Francesco  Burlamacchi.  At  the  S.W.  corner  of 
the  church  is  a  statue  of  the  Madonna  attributed  to  Matteo 
Civitali. 

*  This  picture  will  probably  be  seized  for  the  Gallery  {1875). 


GALLERIA  DELLE  BELLE  ARTE  501 

Returning  to  the  Piazza  del  Giglio,  we  must  enter  the 

court  of  the  Palace,  and  ascend  the  staircase  in  the  left 

wing  to  (right — at  the  top)  the  Galleria  delle  Belle  Arti.  It 
contains  : — 

Entrance  Hall. — 

School    of  Francia.     Christ    in    glory    with    the   Virgin— from    S. 

Francesco. 
Perugino.  (?)    Madonna  and  Child  with  SS.  Stephen  and  Paolo— from 

the  Carmine. 
Ignoto,  1300.     The  Salutation. 
Id.     The  Nativity — from  S.  Francesco.* 

2nd  Hall  {Gallery  on  right). — 

6.  Pontormo.     Giuliano  de'  Medici. 

7.  Guido  Reni.     Crucifixion,  with  SS.  Giulio  and  Caterina — from 

the  Grand-ducal  collection. 
10.   Federigo  Zuccheri.     His  own  Portrait. 

15.  Rutilio  Manetti.     Miracle  of  S.  Antonio. 

16.  Sustermanns.     Vittoria  della  Rovere  with  her  son  Cosimo  III. 

de'  Medici. 
18.  Id.     Maria   Maddalena  d'Austria,    widow   of    Cosimo    II.   de' 

MedicL 
20.    Tintoretto.     Deliverance  of  a  Slave  from  death  by  S.  Mark. 
23.  Pietro  Paolini.     Virgin  and  Child  with  saints. 
26.  Sustermatins.     Cardinal  Leopoldo  de'  Medici. 
31.  Id.     Cardinal  Carlo  de'  Medici. 
*32.     Arnuo  Aspertini.     Virgin  and  Child  in  glory,  with  four  saints  — 

magnificent  in  colour. 

35.  Federigo  Barocci.     Principe  Federigo  d'  Urbino. 

36.  Angelo  Bronzino.     Cosimo  de'  Medici. 

*39.  Fra  Bartolommeo,  15 15.  "La  Madonna  della  Misericordia," 
painted  for  Sebastiano  Lombardi,  Prior  of  S.  Romano,  in 
honour  of  the  protection  given  to  the  Lucchese  during  the 
wars  with  Florence.  This  picture  has  been  seized  from  S. 
Romano  with  which  it  was  so  historically  connected,  in 
characteristic  violation  of  the  law,  that  as  long  as  a  church  is 
kept  open  and  used  for  public  worship,  its  objects  of  art  are 

*  The  hanging  of  this  room  was  unfinished  in  1875  ;  the  pictures  are  probably  more 
numerous  now. 


502  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

not  to  be  touched.  It  has  greatly  suffered  by  the  change  from 
the  chapel,  where  all  the  lights  were  arranged  with  the  sole 
object  of  adding  to  its  dignity  and  grandeur. 

"  This  picture  may  sustain  a  favourable  comparison  with  all  the 
most  magnificent  works  of  the  grand  style  of  the  artist.  The  Virgin  is 
taking  under  her  protection  the  people  of  Lucca,  represented  by  a 
multitude  of  old  men,  women,  and  children  kneeling  before  her,  and  over 
whom  she  appears  to  extend  her  mantle,  sustained  by  angels.  For 
knowledge  of  design,  boldness  of  relief,  and  harmony  of  colour,  we 
might  seek  in  vain  for  a  work  more  nearly  approaching  perfection ; 
while  the  selection  of  the  figures  and  the  general  character  of  the  outline 
is  so  completely  his  own,  that  we  cannot  for  a  moment  suppose  that 
Raffaelle  had  any  hand  in  it." — Rio. 

40.  Daniele  da  Volterra.  (?)     The  Deposition. 
45.  Sacchia.     The  Assumption,  inscribed — 

"  His  operis  visis  hvivs  cognoscere  qui  sit 
Auctor  vel  dempto  nomine  quisq  potest,   mdxxvii." 

50.  Jacopo  Ligozzi.  Appearance  of  the  Virgin  to  S.  Domenic. 
56.  A.  Bronzino.  Ferdinando  de'  Medici. 
*S9.  Fra  Bartolonuneo,  1509  (from  S.  Romano).  God  the  Father,  with 
SS.  Mary  Magdalene  and  Catherine  of  Siena  in  adoration — 
"  figures  of  the  highest  female  beauty,  standing  out  most  effect- 
ively against  the  low  horizon  of  the  landscape  in  the  clear  tone 
of  the  air." — {Burckhardt.) 

"  In  this  picture  the  resemblance  to  the  style  of  Raffaelle  is  so  striking, 
that  he  is  supposed  to  have  assisted  directly  in  its  execution,  Fra  Bar- 
tolommeo  having  only  lent  the  magic  of  his  colouring  to  the  graceful  and 
animated  contours  traced  by  the  more  skilful  hand  of  his  friend.* 

"  A  pen-and-ink  drawing  of  this  beautiful  composition  was  in  the 
collection  of  the  Grand-duke  at  Florence,  and  it  is  impossible  to  imagine 
anything  more  graceful  or  charming  than  the  angels  in  the  upper  part, 
or,  indeed,  anything  more  opposed  to  the  angular  style  which  charac- 
terizes certain  of  the  works  of  Fra  Bartolommeo  ;  this  drawing  was,  in 
fact,  placed  at  first  among  those  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  and  it  was  only 
on  comparing  it  with  the  picture  in  S.  Romano  that  it  was  afterwards 
assigned  to  its  true  author. 

"  If  we  consider  the  choice  of  this  thoroughly  mystical  subject,  and 
the  happy  inspirations  under  which  it  was  executed,  with  reference  to 

*  Rumohr,  Italienische  Forschungen. 


GALLERIA  DELLE  BELLE  ARTL  503 

certain  passages  in  Vasari,  who  represents  this  pious  and  enthusiastic 
artist  preparing  himself  for  death  by  employing  his  pencil  on  votive 
offerings,  and  afterwards  returning  to  Florence  with  a  new  passion, 
that  of  music,  which  threw  a  charm  over  the  remainder  of  his  life, — 
when,  I  say,  we  compare  these  interesting  facts  with  one  another,  we 
seem  to  discover  in  the  depths  of  his  soul  the  flux  and  reflux  of  that 
inward  poetry  which  had  agitated  him  so  violently  in  the  time  of 
Savonarola,  and  which,  having  now  become  more  calm,  without  being 
less  abundant,  reflected  the  ineffable  visions  of  his  celestial  imagination." 
—Rio. 

60.  A.  Bronzino.     Garzia  de'  Medici. 

66.  Ignoto.     Madonna  and  Child  with  four  saints — a  noble  picture. 

68.  Pietro  PaolinL     Birth  of  the  Baptist. 

72.  Sodoma.  (?)     Christ  bearing  his  Cross. 

74.  Salimbeni.     S.  Catherine  of  Alexandria  in  a  dress  of  the  artist's 

time. 

75.  Era  Filippo^  Lippi.     Madonna  and  Child  with  saints,  from  the 

Grand  Ducal  collection. 

2,rd  Hall  (left  of  Entrance  Halt). — 

I.  Domenichino.     Samson. 

3.  Aurelio  Lorni.     The  Deposition. 

8.  Paul  Veronese.     Paul  the  Hermit  before  the  Council  of  Venice. 

II.  Gessi.     Adoration  of  the  Magi. 

4//^  Hall. — 

8.  Bronzino.     Bianca  Capello. 
13.    Tintoretto.     A  Venetian  Senator. 

t^th  Hall— 

I.  Lanfranco.     Martyrdom  of  S.  Lorenzo — from  S.  Agostino, 

3.  Beccafumi.     The  Continence  of  Scipio. 

6.  Vasari.     S.  Eustachio. 

7.  Id.     The  Conception. 

8.  Id.     S.  Biagio. 

Among  the  modern  pictures  is  a  pleasing  portrait  of  Elisa 
Baciocchi,  sister  of  Napoleon  I.,  by  Camuccini. 

This  gallery  concludes  the  list  of  sights  usually  visited 


504  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

by  strangers.  Those  who  make  a  long  stay  in  Lucca  will 
examine  S.  Salvatore,  with  some  curious  sculptures  by 
Biduino  da  Pisa,  1180;  S.  Giusto,  with  a  rich  Lombard 
fagade  ;  S.  Cristofero,  with  a  very  interesting  facade  of  1396, 
and  (against  the  first  pillar  on  the  right)  the  grave  of  the 
sculptor  Matteo  Civitale ;  and  S.  Romano,  with  some  (out- 
side) tombs,  once  remarkable  for  the  grand  works  of  Fra 
Bartolommeo  which  it  contained. 


A  delightful  drive  of  about  14  miles  from  Lucca  leads  to 
the  Bagni  di  Lucca,  the  favourite  summer  residence  of 
strangers  in  Italy.  A  dazzling  white  road  leads  across  the 
rich  plain  to  Mariano,  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  which 
are  clothed  with  wood  to  their  summits.  Hence  we  follow 
the  Serchio  to  Vinchiana,  with  its  overhanging  roofs  and 
pergolas  of  vines.  As  the  narrow  valley  opens,  nothing  can 
exceed  its  summer  radiance  ;  corn-fields  bright  with  gladiolus 
and  poppies,  vines  dancing  from  tree  to  tree.  Madonna- 
shrines  peeping  out  of  thickets  of  roses,  and  the  higher 
ground  covered  with  hoary  olives,  against  which  the  cypress- 
stems  rise  almost  black.  A  road  to  the  left  turns  off  to 
Marlia,  once  the  summer  palace  of  the  Baciocchi,  now  of  the 
Princess  of  Capua.  Passing  the  picturesque  town  of  Borgo 
Mezzano,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  stream,  we  reach,  about 
three  miles  from  the  Baths,  the  fine  old  Gothic  bridge  called 
Ponte  delta  Maddalena,  built  in  1322. 

"The  inundations  of  the  Serchio  made  it  necessary  to  build  a  bridge 
with  an  unusually  high  arch.  The  builder,  not  being  able  to  construct 
the  great  arch,  received  a  proposal  from  '  II  Diavolo '  to  complete  it, 
provided  the  first  passenger  should  be  given  up  to  him.  Next  morning 
the  arch  was  finished,  when  the  mason  contrived  to  make  a  dog  the  first 
passenger.     The  arch-fiend,  enraged  to  find  himself  outwitted,  dashed 


BAGNI  DI  LUCCA. 


505 


the  animal  with  such  force  to  the  ground,  over  the  great  arch,  that  his 
body  passed  through  and  was  carried  away  by  the  flood.  There  is  said 
to  be  a  hole  under  the  present  pavement  confirming  the  legend." — 
Stistecfs  "Bye-ways  0/ Italy. '^ 


C?^"^^  > 


Ponte  della  Maddalena. 


The  Bagni  di  Lucca  are  three  villages.  The  Ponte  a 
Seraglio  {Inns.  America  (Fagnini);  New  York;  Corona) 
is  close  to  the  river,  in  a  too  confined  situation.  It  is  the 
busiest  part  of  the  Bagni,  and  contains  the  Club  and  the 
principal  shops  and  livery-stables.  About  a  mile  higher  up 
the  valley,  reached  by  green  avenues,  at  the  point  where  it 
most  widens,  is  the  Bagni  alia  Villa  {Hotel  Pavilion),  a 
street  following  the  river-bank.  Near  this  is  the  English 
Church.  On  the  hill-side,  on  the  left,  is  the  deserted  villa 
of  the  Grand-dukes,  and,  near  it,  some  of  the  pleasantest 
lodging-houses.  Hence  charming  paths  wind  round  the  hill 
to  the  Bagni  Caldi,  which  is  the  more  picturesque  of  the 
three  villages,  and  in  the  highest  situation. 

Without  possessing  the  slightest  claim  to  grandeur  of 
scenery,  the  green  wooded  hills  and  secluded  valleys  of 
Lucca  are  very  attractive.  The  summer  vegetation  is  in- 
describedly  rich  and  luxuriant,  and  in  the  evening  every 


So6  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

slope  is  aflame  with  the  fire-flies.  With  a  pleasant  society  of 
intimate  friends  around  one  the  summer  months  may  be 
spent  very  happily  at  Lucca  Baths,  where  every  English 
comfort  can  be  obtained,  and  where  there  is  a  resident 
English  chaplain.  The  drawback  is  that  in  the  day-time  the 
heat  makes  it  almost  impossible  to  stir  out  of  doors,  and 
with  the  sunset  a  heavy  dew  falls  which  is  often  exceedingly 


Bagni  Caldi. 

productive  of  rheumatism.  Yet,  though  all  through  the  hot 
hours  of  the  day  the  whole  world  of  the  Bagni  has  seemed 
to  be  asleep,  between  four  and  five  the  roads  through  the 
chestnut  woods  become  alive  with  pleasure-seekers  in  pony- 
carriages  or  on  horseback.  One  of  the  favourite  excursions 
is  that  to  the  village  of  Lugliano  (about  3  m.)  on  a  steep  hill 
above  the  Lima.  Better  worth  seeing  are  the  old  town  of 
Barga,  a  drive  of  about  12m.,  and  Galicano,  an  exceedingly 
picturesque  place,  with  its  houses  built  along  the  edge  of  a 
rift  overhung  by  a  succession  of  bridges,  and  a  walk  to  a 
curious  hermitage  on  the  mountain-side.  More  distant 
still,  but  accessible  in  a  long  summer  day,  is  the  Praia 
Fiorito,  a  beautiful  mountain  meadow,  enamelled  with  early 
flowers. 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 

PISTOIA  AND  PRATO. 

THESE  interesting  towns  of  the  Middle  Ages  are  too 
little  known  and  visited.  Their  churches,  dating 
for  the  most  part  from  the  13th  century,  are  full  of  interest 
and  beauty.  These  are  chiefly  built  of  black  and  white 
marble,  and  it  is  curious  how,  in  many  ways,  these  Tuscan 
cities  repeat  the  characteristics  of  Florence  on  a  small  scale, 
as  Vicenza  and  Udine  repeat  Venice. 

(The  railway  from  Lucca  (4  frs.  40  c.  ;  3  frs.  65  c. ;  2  frs. 
95  c.)  passes — 

Altopasico  (Stat).  Here  is  a  church  of  1330,  with  a  very 
fine  campanile.  The  country  becomes  filled  with  luxuriant 
loveliness  before  reaching : — 

Pescia  (Stat.),  {Inn.  Fosta),  a  flourishing  little  town  on  the 
river  Pescia.  The  modernized  Cathedral  retains  its  tower  of 
1306.  It  contains  the  tomb  of  Baldassare  Turini,  by  Raf- 
faelle  da  Montelupo.  The  Church  of  S.  Francesco  has  a  pic- 
ture by  Margheritotie.  Fra  Domenico,  the  friend  and  fellow- 
sufferer  of  Savonarola,  was  a  native  of  Pescia. 

Montecatini  (Stat.).  The  Baths  here  are  much  frequented 
from  May  to  September.  It  was  close  to  this  that  the  Ghi- 
belline  Uguccione  della  Faggiuola,  lord  of  Pisa  and  Lucca, 
completely  defeated  the  Florentines,  August  29th,  13 15. 


5o8  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Serravalle  (Stat.).  Here  the  valley  was  guarded  by  an  old 
castle.) 

The  railway  from  Bologna,  after  crossing  the  Apennine 
gorges  by  a  variety  of  airy  bridges,  and  piercing  the  Apen- 
nine rocks  by  more  than  forty  tunnels,  descends  rapidly 
upon  Pistoia,  of  which  there  is  a  fine  view  long  before  reach- 
ing it.  At  once,  on  crossing  the  mountain  barrier,  one  ex- 
periences the  change  to  the  south — to  the  land  of  the  olive, 
orange,  and  cypress  ;  and  the  radiant  beauty  of  the  Tuscan 
hills  seems  to  open  a  fresh  existence.  No  description  of 
them  is  equal  to  the  words  of  Hawthorne  : — 

"  They  abound  in  the  picturesque  bits  of  rustic  character  and  manners, 
so  little  of  which  ever  comes  upon  the  surface  of  our  life  at  home. 
There,  for  example,  are  the  old  women,  tending  pigs  or  sheep  by  the 
wayside.  As  they  follow  the  vagrant  steps  of  their  charge,  these  vener- 
able ladies  keep  spinning  yarn  with  that  elsewhere  forgotten  contriv- 
ance, the  distaff;  and  so  wrinkled  and  stern-looking  are  they,  that  you 
might  take  them  for  the  Parcae,  spinning  the  threads  of  human  destiny. 
In  contrast  with  their  great-grandmothers  are  the  children,  leading  goats 
of  shaggy  beard,  tied  by  the  horns,  and  letting  them  browse  on  branch 
and  shrub.  It  is  the  fashion  of  Italy  to  add  the  petty  industry  of  age 
and  childhood  to  the  sum  of  human  toil.  To  foreign  eyes,  it  is  a  strange 
spectacle  to  see  sturdy,  sunburnt  creatures,  in  petticoats,  but  otherwise 
manlike,  toiling  side  by  side  with  male  labourers,  in  the  rudest  work  of 
the  fields.  These  sturdy  women  (if  as  such  we  must  recognize  them) 
wear  the  high-crowned,  broad-brimmed  hat  of  Tuscan  straw,  the  cus- 
tomary female  head-apparel ;  and,  as  every  breeze  blows  back  its  breadth 
of  brim,  the  sunshine  constantly  adds  depth  to  the  brown  glow  of  their 
cheeks.  The  elder  sisterhood,  however,  set  off  their  witch-like  ugliness 
to  the  worst  advantage  with  black  felt  hats,  bequeathed  them,  one  would 
fancy,  by  their  long-buried  husbands. 

' '  Another  ordinaiy  sight,  as  sylvan  as  the  above,  and  more  agreeable, 
is  a  girl,  bearing  on  her  back  a  huge  bundle  of  green  twigs  and  shrubs, 
or  grass,  intermixed  with  scarlet  poppies  and  blue  flowers ;  the  verdant 
burden  being  sometimes  of  such  size  as  to  hide  the  bearer's  figure,  and 
seem  a  self-moving  mass  of  fragrant  bloom  and  verdure.  Oftener, 
however,  the  bundle  reaches  only  half-way  down  the  back  of  the  rustic 
nymph,  leaving  in  sight  her  well-developed  lower  limbs,  and  the  crooked 


THE  TUSCAN  HILLS.  509 

knife,  hanging  behind  her,  with  which  she  has  been  reaping  this  strange 
harvest  sheaf.  A  pre-Raphaelite  artist  might  find  an  admirable  subject 
in  one  of  these  Tuscan  girls,  stepping  with  a  free,  erect,  and  graceful 
carriage.  The  miscellaneous  herbage  and  tangled  twigs  and  blossoms 
of  her  bundle,  crowning  her  head  (while  her  ruddy,  comely  face  looks 
out  between  the  hanging  side  festoons  like  a  larger  flower),  would  give 
the  painter  boundless  scope  for  the  minute  delineation  which  he  loves. 

"Though  mixed  up  with  what  is  rude  and  earthlike,  there  is  still  a  re- 
mote, dreamlike.  Arcadian  charm,  which  is  scarcely  to  be  found  in  the 
daily  toil  of  other  lands.  Among  the  pleasant  features  of  the  wayside 
are  always  the  vines,  clambering  on  fig-trees,  or  other  sturdy  trunks  ; 
they  wreath  themselves,  in  huge  and  rich  festoons,  from  one  tree  to 
another,  suspending  clusters  of  ripening  grapes  in  the  interval  between. 
Under  such  careless  mode  of  culture,  the  luxuriant  vine  is  a  lovelier 
spectacle  than  where  it  produces  a  more  precious  liquor,  and  is  there- 
fore more  artificially  restrained  and  trimmed.  Nothing  can  be  more 
picturesque  than  an  old  grape  vine,  with  almost  a  trunk  of  its  own, 
clinging  fast  around  its  supporting  tree. 

"The  scene  is  not  less  characteristic  when  you  enter  some  small  ancient 
town.  There,  besides  the  peculiarities  of  present  life,  you  see  tokens  of 
the  life  that  has  long  ago  been  lived  and  flung  aside.  The  little  town, 
such  as  we  see  it  in  our  mind's  eye,  will  have  its  gate  and  its  surround- 
ing walls,  so  ancient  and  massive  that  ages  have  not  sufficed  to  crumble 
them  away ;  but  in  the  lofty  upper  portion  of  the  gateway,  still  standing 
over  the  empty  arch,  where  there  is  no  longer  a  gate  to  shut,  there  will 
be  a  dove-cote,  and  peaceful  doves  for  the  only  warders.  Pumpkins  lie 
ripening  in  the  open  chambers  of  the  structure.  Then,  as  for  the  town- 
wall,  on  the  outside  an  orchard  extends  peacefully  along  its  base,  full, 
not  of  apple  trees,  but  of  those  old  humorists  with  gnarled  trunks  and 
twisted  boughs,  the  olives.  Houses  have  been  built  upon  the  ramparts, 
or  burrowed  out  of  their  ponderous  foundation.  Even  the  grey,  martial 
towers  crowned  with  ruined  turrets,  have  been  converted  into  rustic  habit- 
ations, from  the  windows  of  which  hang  ears  of  Indian  com.  At  a 
door,  that  has  been  broken  through  the  massive  stone-work,  where  it 
was  meant  to  be  strongest,  some  contadini  are  winnowing  grain. 
Small  windows,  too,  are  pierced  through  the  whole  line  of  ancient  wall, 
so  that  it  seems  a  row  of  dwellings  with  one  continuous  front,  built  in  a 
strange  style  of  needless  strength  ;  but  remnants  of  the  old  battlements 
and  machicolations  are  interspersed  with  the  homely  chambers  and 
earthen-tiled  house-tops  ;  and  all  along  its  extent  both  grape-vines  and 
running  flower-shrubs  are  encouraged  to  clamber  and  sport  over  the 
roughnesses  of  its  decay. 

"Finally,  the  long  grass,  intermixed  with  weeds  and  wild-flowers,  waves 


5IO  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

on  the  uppermost  height  of  the  shattered  rampart ;  and  it  is  exceed- 
ingly pleasant  in  the  golden  sunshine  of  the  afternoon  to  behold  the 
warlike  precinct  so  friendly  in  its  old  days,  and  so  overgrown  with  rural 
peace.  In  its  guard-rooms,  its  prison-chambers,  and  scooped  out  of  its 
ponderous  breadth,  there  are  dwellings  now-a-days  where  happy  human 
lives  are  spent.  Human  parents  and  broods  of  children  nestle  in  them, 
even  as  the  swallows  nestle  in  the  little  crevices  along  the  broken  summit 
of  the  wall. 

"  Passing  through  the  gateway  of  this  same  little  town,  challenged 
only  by  those  watchful  sentinels,  the  pigeons,  we  find  ourselves  in  a  long 
narrow  street,  paved  from  side  to  side  with  flag-stones,  in  the  old  Roman 
fashion.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  grim  ugliness  of  the  houses,  most  of 
which  are  three  or  four  stories  high,  stone-built,  grey,  dilapidated,  or 
half  covered  with  plaster  in  patches,  and  contiguous  all  along  from  end 
to  end  of  the  town.  Nature,  in  the  shape  of  tree,  shrub,  or  grassy  side- 
walk, is  as- much  shut  out  from  the  one  street  of  the  rustic  village  as 
from  the  heart  of  any  swarming  city.  The  dark  and  half-ruinous  habit- 
ations, with  their  small  windows,  many  of  which  are  drearily  closed 
with  wooden  shutters,  are  but  magnified  hovels,  piled  story  upon  story, 
and  squalid  with  the  grime  that  successive  ages  have  left  behind  them. 
It  would  be  a  hideous  scene  to  contemplate  on  a  rainy  day,  or  when  no 
human  life  pervaded  it.  In  the  summer-noon,  however,  it  possesses 
vivacity  enough  to  keep  itself  cheerful ;  for  all  the  within-doors  of  the  vil- 
lage then  bubbles  over  upon  the  flag-stones,  or  looks  out  from  the  small 
windows,  and  from  here  and  there  a  balcony.  Some  of  the  populace 
are  at  the  butcher's  shop  ;  others  are  at  the  fountain,  which  gushes  into 
a  marble  bason  that  resembles  an  antique  sarcophagus.  A  tailor  is 
sewing  before  his  door,  with  a  young  priest  seated  sociably  beside  him  ; 
a  burly  friar  goes  by  with  an  empty  wine-barrel  on  his  head  ;  children 
are  at  play  ;  women  at  their  own  doorsteps  mend  clothes,  embroider, 
weave  hats  of  Tuscan  straw,  or  twirl  the  distaff.  Many  idlers,  mean- 
while, strolling  from  one  group  to  another,  let  the  warm  day  slide  by  in 
the  sweet,  interminable  task  of  doing  nothing." — Hawthorne,  "  The 
Marble  Faun^ 

Pistoia  {TnJts.  Londra,  indifferent  and  dear ;  Inghilterra), 
said  to  have  been  founded  by  the  soldiers  of  Catihne, 
rises  in  a  rich  plain,  its  pale-red  domes  and  towers  backed 
by  the  wooded  Apennines.  It  retains  its  old  walls  and 
fortifications.  The  still  flourishing  trade  of  the  gun-smiths 
here  counted  the  inventor  of  a  Pistol  (from  Pistoia)  among 


PISTOIA.  511 

its  members.  From  its  manufacture  or  its  character  the 
proverb  calls  the  town  "  Pistoia  la  ferrigna  " — iron  Pistoia, 
or  Pistoia  the  pitiless.  The  sights  of  the  place  may  be  visited 
in  four  hours,  but  artists  and  antiquarians  will  wish  to  give 
a  much  longer  time.  The  Cathedral  and  its  surroundings,  S. 
Domenico,  S.  Giovanni,  S.  Andrea,  and  S.  Francesco,  are 
the  most  important  points.  The  following  arrangement  may 
save  time  to  those  who  are  hurried. 

On  entering  the  gates,  we  should  turn  to  the  right  down 
the  Corso.  Here,  on  the  right,  is  the  great  Gothic  brick 
Church  of  S.  Domenico,  dating  from  1380.  One  of  the 
picturesque  nuns  in  the  adjoining  convent  will  open  the 
doors.     It  contains  : — 

Right,  2nd  Altar.     Fra  Bartolommeo.     Madonna — a  fresco. 

Beyond  yd  Altar.     Tomb  of  the  Beato  Lorenzo  Pisano. 

Beyond  ^h  Altar.  Tomb  of  a  bishop,  under  a  Gothic  canopy — the 
Beato  Andrea. 

Right  Transept,  Cappella  Rospigliosi.  facopo  da  Empoli.  A  Miracle 
of  S.  Carlo  Borromeo. 

Chapel  right  of  choir.     Fra  Paolino^  1 539.     Adoration  of  the  Magi. 

Choir.      Ghirlandajo.     S.  Sebastian. 

Left  {over  door).  Bernardo  ^Rossellini,  1464.  Tomb  of  Filippo 
Lazzari,  a  famous  lawyer. 

Left,  2nd  Altar.  Fra  Paolino.  The  Crucifixion,  with  the  Madonna, 
S.  John,  and  S.  Thomas  Aquinas. 

The  street  in  front  of  this  church  leads,  in  a  minute,  to 
the  picturesque  Church  of  S.  Giovanni  Evangelista  (also 
called  Fuorcivitas)  in  the  Via  Cavour.  It  has  a  facade  of 
1 166,  by  Gruamonte,  whose  name  is  inscribed  on  the  archi- 
trave of  the  side  door,  which  is  decorated  with  a  curious 
relief  of  the  Last  Supper.     It  contains  : — 

Right.  A  Pulpit  of  1270  of  the  school  of  Niccolo  Pisano,  probably 
by  Fra  Guglielmo  dAgnello.  It  is  too  crowded  with  figures  for  effect, 
but  rests  on  noble  lions.     Its  reliefs  represent :  East,  the  Annunciation, 


512  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

the  Visitation,  and  the  Nativity  :  North,  the  Washing  of  the  Feet,  the 
Crucifixion,  the  Deposition,  and  the  Giving  of  the  Keys  to  Peter  : 
iVest,  the  Ascension,  the  Amazement  of  the  Apostles,  the  Pentecost, 
and  the  Assumption. 
Right.  Delia  Robbia.  The  Salutation — a  noble  group. 
*Left.  Giovanni  Pisano,  1302.  Holy  Water  Bason,  borne  by  the 
Christian  Virtues — very  quaint. 

Returning  to  the  Corso,  on  the  left  is  the  Church  of  S. 
Paolo,  with  a  facade  of  1136,  built  of  serpentine  and  grey- 
stone  (recently  restored)  and  surmounted  by  a  beautiful 
open  gallery  of  Gothic  arches.  The  lofty  portal,  attributed 
to  Giovanni  Pisano,  contains  a  statue  of  S.  Paul  adored  by 
angels,  by  Magister  Jacobus,  1302.  Round  the  basement  of 
the  church  are  arches  containing  monuments.  It  con- 
tains : — 

High  Altar.     Fra  Paolino.     Virgin  and  Saints. 

Proceeding,  and  turning  a  little  to  the  left,  we  find  the 
Church  of  S.  Pietro  Maggiore,  with  a  beautiful  front  with 
rich  arcades  of  striped  marbles.  Over  the  door  is  the 
Delivery  of  the  Keys  to  S.  Peter  by  Maestro  Buono. 

A  little  further  (right)  is  the  Church  of  S.  Bartolomtneo. 
The  west  door,  decorated  with  a  relief  of  the  Mission  of  the 
Apostles,  has  an  inscription,  saying  that  it  is  due  to  Rudol- 
phitius,  1 167.  The  interior  is  lofty,  with  very  narrow  aisles 
separated  from  the  nave  by  tall  columns  with  rich  capitals. 
On  the  right  is  a.  Pulpit  by  Guido  da  Como,  1250.  It  is 
supported  by  three  columns,  that  in  the  centre  resting  on  a 
quaint  human  figure,  the  others  on  a  lion  and  lioness. 

The  street  in  front  of  S.  Pietro  leads  into  the  Via  dello 
Spedale,  where  (right)  is  the  interesting  Spedale  del  Ceppo, 
founded  12 18.     Its  beautiful  frieze  is  by  Giovanni,  Luca, 


PALAZZO  DEL  COMUNE.  513 

and  Girolamo  della  Robbia,  1535.    It  portrays  the  "  Temporal 

Works  of  Mercy," — clothing  the  naked,  receiving  strangers, 

nursing  the  sick,  visiting  prisoners,  burying  the  dead,  feeding 

the  hungry,  and  comforting  the  mourners.      The  portico 

was  built  in  15 14. 

"The  frieze  represents  the  Seven  Acts  of  Mercy,  and  cost  Andrea  and 
his  son  Luca  II.  eleven  years  of  labour.  They  spent  upon  it  all  the  re- 
sources of  their  art,  and  by  an  unsparing  use  of  colour  produced  a  brilliant, 
if  not  a  perfectly  tasteful  effect.  When  closely  examined,  the  compositions 
show  careful  observation  of  common  nature ;  as  for  example,  in  that 
representing  the  Visitation  of  the  Sick — the  artist  evidently  studied  the 
effects  of  illness  upon  some  of  the  sufferers  who  lay  in  the  hospital  which 
he  was  employed  to  decorate,  and  then  reproduced  in  his  work  what  he 
had  seen,  without  attempting  to  idealize. " — Perkins^  Tuscan  Sculptors. 

Hence,  by  the  Ripa  della  Comunitk,  we  may  ascend  to 
the  Piazza  Maggiore,  the  centre  of  life  at  Pistoia,  containing 
a  modem  statue  of  the  good  Bishop  Niccolo  Fortiguerra, 
and  surrounded  by  ancient  buildings.  One  side  is  occupied 
by  the  Cathedral  and  Baptistery.  On  the  right  is  the 
Palazzo  del  Comune,  on  the  left  the  Palazzo  Pretorio. 

The  Palazzo  del  Comune  is  a  noble  Gothic  building  of 
1294 — 1385.  On  the  front  are  a  mace,  with  a  pine-apple 
top,  and  a  brazen  head,  attributed  to  Grandonio,  the  legend- 
ary hero  of  Pistoia,  but  probably  set  up  to  keep  alive  a 
contempt  for  the  memory  of  Filippo  Tedici,  who  betrayed 
Pistoia  to  Castruccio  Castracane  in  1325.  The  keys 
above  it  are  supposed  to  be  those  of  the  prisons  whose 
inmates  were  released  on  the  intercession  of  Bishop  Andrea 
Franchi  in  1399.  The  wrought-iron  balconies  are  very 
beautiful.  In  the  Sala  degli  Avocati  are  a  fresco  and  verses 
in  honour  of  Grandonio.  Two  beautiful  Ambones,  preserved 
in  another  chamber,  were  found,  during  restorations,  beneath 

the  pavement  of  the  cathedral. 
VOL.  II.  33 


514  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Amongst  the  shields  of  arms  which  hang  here,  those  of 
the  Cancellieri  will  recall  the  terrible  part  which  Pistoia 
played  in  Florentine  history ;  for  it  was  here  that  the  Guelph 
party  first  became  broken  up  into  the  Bianchi  and  Neri^ 
divisions  which  so  profoundly  influenced  the  destinies  of  the 
republic. 

"Les  historiens  contemporains  s'accordent  k  attribuer  aux  habitants 
de  Pistoia  un  caractere  violent.  L'origine  de  la  querelle  des  blancs  et 
des  noirs  offre  des  scenes  d'une  atrocite  qui  tranche  meme  sur  le  fond 
des  moeurs  farouches  de  1' Italic  au  moyen  dge.  Un  jeune  homme, 
appartenant  aux  cancellieri  blancs,  ayant  insult^  un  cancelliere  noir, 
celui-ci  attaqua,  le  soir  du  meme  jour,  le  frere  de  I'agresseur,  le  blessa  au 
visage  et  lui  abattit  la  main.  Le  pere  du  coupable  envoya  son  fils  au 
pere  du  blesse,  nomme  Galfredo,  pour  traiter  d'une  satisfaction ;  mais 
Galfredo  blessa  le  jeune  homme  au  visage,  lui  coupa  la  main  sur  ime 
mangeoire  de  cheval,  et  le  renvoya  ainsi  k  son  pere." — Ainpire. 

But  Pistoia  was  chiefly  Ghibelline — 

"  Ah  Pistoia,  Pistoia,  che  non  stanzi 
D'incenerarti,  si  che  piii  non  duri, 
Poi  che'n  mal  far  lo  seme  tuo  avanzi !  " 

Dante,  Inf.  xxv.  lo. 

The  Palazzo  jPrefon'o,  hnilt  1367 — 1377,  has  a  picturesque 

court-yard  with  frescoed  vaulting  and  walls  hung  with  shields 

of  podestas.     On  the  left  is  a  great  stone  table  and  the  seat 

of  judgment,  with  the  inscription  : — 

"Hie  locus  odit,  amat,  punit,  conservat,  honorat, 
Nequitiam,  leges,  crimina,  jura,  probos." 

The  Cathedral  of  S.  Jacopo  was  restored  in  1240  by 
Niccolb  Pisano.  The  noble  four-sided  campanile  is  sur- 
rounded near  the  top  by  three  tiers  of  columns.  The  atrium 
is  of  131 1.  Over  the  central  door  is  a  Virgin  and  Child 
with  angels  by  Andrea  della  Robbia ;  over  the  side  door, 
frescoes  by  Balducci  and  Giovanni  Christiani,  1369.  The 
interior  is  miserably  modernized ;  it  contains  : — 


CATHEDRAL  OF  PISTOIA.  515 

Right.  Statue  of  Leo  XI.  Then  the  curious  tomb  of  Cino  da 
Pistoia,  ob.  1336. 

"The  Poet  Guittone  Sinibaldi  is  better  known  as  Messer  Cino,  the 
friend  of  Dante,  who  like  him  was  driven  into  exile,  and  forced,  as  he 
says  in  one  of  his  sonnets, 

a  vagar  per  lo  mondo. 

His  monument  consists  of  a  Gothic  canopy  supported  upon  twisted 
columns,  under  which  Messer  Cino  sits,  clad  in  professional  robes,  in- 
structing several  of  his  disciples,  among  whom  appears  his  favourite 
pupil,  Bartolo  di  Sassoferrato,  and  the  lady  of  his  love,  Selvaggia  Ver- 
giolesi.  In  the  bas-relief  on  the  front  of  the  sarcophagus,  upon  which 
this  group  is  placed,  Messer  Cino  is  again  represented  in  the  midst  of  his 
scholars,  who  are  formally  ranged  on  each  side  of  him,  in  the  style  com- 
mon to  all  professional  monuments  of  the  time.  As  there  is  but  little 
life  in  any  of  the  figures,  and  little  skill  in  grouping,  it  interests  us  less 
on  account  of  its  artistic  merit,  than  as  the  resting-place  of  the  man 
who  was  looked  upon  by  Dante  as  among  those  who  brought  Italian 
poetry  to  perfection,  and  to  whom  Petrarch  acknowledged  great  obliga- 
tions in  regard  to  the  formation  of  his  own  exquisite  style.  Bom  at 
Pistoia  in  the  year  1272,  this  eminent  man  was  a  scholar  of  the  gram- 
marian Francesco  da  Colle,  and  studied  jurisprudence  under  Dino  da 
Mugello  at  Bologna.  Having  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Bianchi, 
he  was  obliged  to  follow  his  chief,  Filippo  Vergiolesi,  when  the  Neri 
expelled  the  Bianchi  from  the  city  ;  but  as  he  was  deeply  enamoured  of 
Filippi's  daughter,  the  beautiful  Selvaggia,  he  must  have  found  this 
exile  deprived  of  its  bitterness  until  death  snatched  her  away,  and  left 
him  to  seek  consolation  in  singing  her  praises  in  sonnets,  as  Dante  sang 
those  of  Beatrice,  Petrarch  those  of  Laura,  and  Boccaccio  those  of  Fiam- 
metta.  After  the  death  of  Selvaggia,  he  went  to  study  in  the  university 
of  Paris,  and  on  his  return,  revisited  Sambuco,  a  town  on  the  confines  of 
Lombardy,  to  weep  over  the  grave  of  her,  '  che  viva  o  morta  gli  dovea 
tor  pace  ?  He  then  settled  at  Bologna,  where  he  received  a  crown  of 
laurel  for  his  learned  commentaries  on  the  Codex  of  Justinian.  Twenty- 
two  years  later,  he  returned  to  Pistoia,  and  soon  after  died,  regretted 
by  his  fellow-citizens,  who  sought  by  posthumous  honours  to  make 
amends  for  the  long  wanderings  to  which  their  factious  quarrels  had 
condemned  him." — Perkins^  Tuscan  Sculptors. 

This  was  the  Cino  to  whom  Petrarch  addressed  the  sonnet : — 

"Piangete,  Donne,  e  con  voi  pianga  Amore, 
Piangete  Amanti  per  ciascun  paese  ; 
Poi  che  morto  e  colui  che  tutto  intese 


5l6  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

In  farvi,  mentre  visse  al  mondo,  onore. 
lo  per  me  prego  il  mio  acerbo  dolor, 

Non  sian  da  lui  le  lagrime  contese, 

E  mi  sia  di  sospir  tanto  cortese 

Quanto  bisogna  a  disfogare  il  core. 
Piangan  le  rime  ancor,  piangano  i  versi, 

Perche  '1  nostro  amoroso  Messer  Cino 

Novellamente  s'  e  da  noi  partito. 
Pianga  Pistoia,  e  i  cittadini  perversi, 

Che  perdut'  hanno  si  dolce  vicino, 

E  rall^jissi  '1  cielo,  ov'  ^11  e  gito." 

The  Sacristy  contains  an  ancient  sarcophagus  which  long  held  the 
relics  of  S.  Felix,  and  has  several  curious  specimens  of  goldsmiths'  work. 

The  Cappella  di  S.  "Jacopo,  right  of  the  Tribune,  contains  a  magni- 
ficent silver  altar  and  shrine  of  the  14th  century.  The  subjects  relating 
to  the  stoiy  of  S.  James  are  by  Lionardo  Fiorentino,  1366 — 1371  ;  those 
from  the  Old  Testament  histoiy  by  Piero  di  San  Lionardo  1355 — 1364  ; 
Xhepaliotto  or  centre,  representing  the  twelve  apostles  and  scenes  from 
the  New  Testament,  hy  Andrea  di  yacopo  Ognabene  de  Pistoja,  1 316, 
though  several  statues  were  added  long  afterwards  by  Brunelleschi, 
Nofri  di  Buto,  and  Atto  di  Pietro  Braccini. 

Chapel  left  of  Tribune.  Lorenzo  di  Credi.  Madonna,  with  SS.  John 
Baptist  and  Nicholas — a  very  lovely  picture. 

I^ft  of  Entrance.  Tomb  of  Cardinal  Niccol6  Fortiguerra  by  Andrea 
del  Verrochio,  1474. 

Between  the  doors.  The  Font,  with  reliefs  by  Andrea  Ferrucci  da 
Fiesole. 

"  In  four  reliefs  the  histoiy  of  S.  John  Baptist  is  delineated ;  the  scene 
of  his  birth  exhibits  unusual  depth  of  feeling,  also  his  preaching,  the  ban- 
quet of  Herod,  and  the  vivid  scene  of  his  execution.  In  the  arched  com- 
partment above,  the  Baptism  of  Christ  is  represented  almost  life-size  in 
very  strong  relief  and  exhibits  somewhat  of  Perugino's  purest  feeling. 
Very  noble  is  the  figure  of  Christ,  who,  with  bent  head,  humbly  crosses 
his  arms  on  his  breast ;  while  the  beautiful  adoring  angels,  standing 
and  kneeling,  recall  the  works  of  Lorenzo  di  CredL" — Liibke. 

Opposite  the  cathedral  is  the  eight-sided  Gothic  Baptistery ^ 
begun  1339  by  Maestro  Cellino  di  Nese  from  designs  of 
Andrea  Pisano.  It  is  the  only  Baptistery  built  after  the  in- 
troduction of  pointed  architecture,  when  they  were  no 
longer  needed,  parish  priests  being  then  allowed  to  baptize. 


S.  ANDREA,  S.  FRANCESCO.  517 

The  interior  is  unimportant  Close  to  the  door  is  a 
beautiful  little  outside  pulpit  under  a  trefoil  arch. 

Behind  the  side  of  the  piazza  facing  the  cathedral  ii 
the  Church  of  S.  Sa/va^ore,  vrhlch  dates  from  1270.  The 
figures  of  S.  Michael  and  King  David  guard  the  entrance. 
The  name  of  a  neighbouring  street  recalls  a  tradition  that 
Catiline  is  buried  here. 

In  the  street  of  the  same  name  is  the  curious  Church  of  S. 
Andrea.  It  has  a  very  rich  front  of  1 166  by  Gruamonte  and 
his  brother  Adeodato,  but  the  effect  is  spoilt  by  a  later  attic 
gallery.  Over  the  door  is  a  statue  of  S.  Andrew  between 
lions,  and  below  is  a  curious  relief  of  the  Coming  of  the 
Magi,  who  are  represented  twice — riding  to  Herod,  walking 
to  the  Virgin.  On  the  pillar  on  the  right  is  a  hideous  black 
head,  said  to  be  one  of  those  stuck  up  to  commemorate  the 
treason  of  Tedici.  The  splendid  Pulpit  is  by  Giovanni 
Pisano,  1298 — 1301.  It  rests  on  seven  red  marble  columns 
supported  by  beasts.  The  reliefs  represent,  the  Nativity,  the 
Adoration  of  the  Magi,  the  Massacre  of  the  Innocents,  the 
Crucifixion,  and  the  last  Judgment.  There  are  noble  figures 
at  the  angles.     It  bears  the  inscription  : — 

"  Sculpsit  Joannes  qui  res  non  egit  inanes 
Nicoli  natus  sensia  (scientia)  meliore  beatus 
Quem  genuit  Pisa  doctum  per  omnia  visa." 

Beyond  this,  in  the  great  square  called  the  Frato,  is  the 
fine  Gothic  Church  of  S.  Francesco  (entered  through  the 
cloister),  once  covered  all  over  with  frescoes,  of  which  only 
some  portions  are  now  unclothed  by  whitewash.  Still  the 
church  is  very  interesting,  and  contains  : — 

Right,  4//4  Altar  [CappeUa  Arrighi).  Poppi.  The  Presentation  in 
the  Temple. 


51^  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Sacristy  [Cappelladi  S.  Ludavico).  Donna  LippadiLapo,  c  1380.  The 
Crucifixion,  with  the  Nativity  and  the  Deposition  at  the  sides.  The 
other  frescoes  are  by  Giovanni  di  Bartolommeo  Christiana.  Through 
this  is  : — 

The  Chapter  House.  A  beautiful  vaulted  room  opening  by  Gothic 
arches  of  stone  and  black  n\arble  into  the  cloister.  T)ie  frescoes  are  of 
the  15th  century.  On  the  wall  is  the  Stem  of  Jesse  between  the  Trans- 
figuration and  the  Finding  of  the  Cross.  On  the  ceiling  are,  the  Resur- 
rection ;  S.  Francis  on  the  night  of  the  Nativity ;  the  Death  of  S. 
Francis ;  S.  Francis  in  glory. 

In  the  centre  of  the  Nave  is  the  tomb  of  an  Englishman,  "  Thomas  de 
Weston,  Doctor  Legum,  1408." 

Left,  a^h  Altar.     Bronzino.     Resurrection  of  Lazarus. 

"ifrd  Altar.     Matteo  Rosselli.     Marriage  of  Cana. 

\st  Altar.  Eliz.  Sirani.  Virgin  and  Child,  with  SS.  Francis  and 
Catherine. 

Left  of  Entrance.  Aurelio  Lomi.  Flight  into  Egypt — the  Holy 
Family,  with  a  crowd  of  angels  surrounding  them. 

In  returning  to  the  piazza  we  may  visit  (conspicuous  by 
its  great  dome)  S.  Maria  delV  Umiltd,  built  in  1509  by  Ven- 
tura Vitoni  da  Pistoia.  The  church  is  octangular  with  a 
very  handsome  atrium,  the  pictures  are  indifferent. 

In  history,  Pistoia  is  chiefly  connected  with  the  defeat  of 
the  followers  of  Catiline  in  62  B.C.  Shut  in  between  the 
troops  of  Antony  and  of  Metellus  Celer,  they  fought  with 
the  utmost  valour.  "  The  place  which  each  man  had  occu- 
pied in  life,  he  covered  with  his  body  in  death,"  and  Catiline 
himself  fell  fighting  in  the  thick  of  the  evening. 

"They  found  Catiline  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  and  he  had  his 
army  and  his  people  in  that  place  where  is  now  the  city  of  Pestoire. 
There  was  Catiline  conquered  in  battle,  and  he  and  his  soldiers  were 
slain  ;  also  a  great  part  of  the  Romans  were  killed,  and  on  account  of 
the  pestilenceof  that  great  slaughter,  the  city  was  called  Pestoire." — 
Brtmetto  Latini  Tresor,  I.  i.  37. 

(The  Maria  Antonia  railway  from  Pistoia  to  Florence  runs 
near  the  foot  of  the  Apennines,  through  a  most  luxuriant  and 


CATHEDRAL  OF  PRATO.  519 

beautiful  plain,  filled  with  fruit-trees  growing  out  of  luxuriant 
corn-fields,  while  vines  cling  in  garlands  from  tree  to  tree, 
and  every  wall  and  bank  is  hung  with  water-melons  and 
pumpkins. 

•'  Paysage  toscan,  agreable  et  noble.  Les  bles  en  herbe  sont  eblouis- 
sants  de  fraicheur ;  au-dessus  d'eux  s'ordonnent  les  files  d'ormeaux 
charges  de  vignes,  bordant  la  rigole  qui  les  arrose.  Le  campagne  est 
un  verger  que  les  eaux  amenagees  viennent  fertiliser.  On  voit  ces  eaux 
venir  abondammentdesmontagnes  et  se  tordre  bleues  et  limpides  sur  leur 
lit  trop  large  de  cailloux  roules.  Partout  des  traces  de  prosperite.  Le 
versant  des  montagnes  est  pique  de  mille  petits  points  blancs  ;  elles  sont 
la  chacune  dans  son  bouquet  de  chataigniers,  d'oliviers  et  de  pins.  On 
voit  des  marques  de  gout,  de  bien-etre  dans  celles  qu'on  apercjoit  en  pas- 
sant ;  les  fermes  elles-memes  ont  un  portique  au  rez-de-chaussee  ou  au 
premier  etage  pour  prendre  le  frais  le  soir.  Tout  produit ;  la  culture 
monte  haut  dans  la  montagne,  et  se  continue  9a  et  \k  par  la  foret  primi- 
tive. L'homme  n'a  point  reduit  la  terre  a  un  squelette  dechame  ;  il  lui 
a  conserve  ou  renouvele  son  vetement  de  verdure.  Quand  le  train 
s'eloigne,  ces  etages  de  terrains  chacun  avec  sa  culture  et  sa  teinte,  plus 
loin  la  bordure  pale  et  vaporeuse  des  montagnes,  entourent  la  plaine 
comme  d'une  guirlande.  L'effet  n'est  point  celui  d'une  beaute  gran- 
diose, mais  harmonieuse  et  mesuree." — Taine. 

Prato  {Inns.  Locanda  del  Giardino ;  Lacanda  del  Con- 
trucci)  is  a  charming  old  thirteenth-century  town  on  the 
banks  of  the  torrent  Bisenzio. 

The  beautiful  little  Cathedral,  originally  built  in  the  form 
of  a  Roman  basilica  in  the  12  th  century,  was  enlarged  c. 
1320  under  Giovanni Pisano,  who  added  its  cruciform  shape. 
It  is  inlaid  with  black  and  green  serpentine  from  Mont- 
ferrato,  alternating  with  white  marble.  The  campanile  was 
built  in  1340  by  Niccolb  di  Cecco.  At  one  comer  of  the 
west  front  projects  the  pulpit  of  Donatello  of  1434,  whence 
the  "  Sacra  Cintola  "  is  exhibited — the  girdle  of  the  Virgin, 
said  to  have  been  brought  back  from  Palestine  in  1141  by 


$ao 


ITALIAN  CITIES. 


Michele  dei  Dagomari.     In  its  seven  panels  are  beautiful 
sculptures  of  dancing  children, 

"The  troop  of  merry  children  sculptured  upon  it  who,  entwined  like 
vine-tendrils,  go  dancing  and  singing  on  their  way,  are  varied  with 
admirable  effect  by  the  deep  and  angular  edge-cuttings  of  those  in  the 
foreground,  which  mark  clear  shadows  upon  the  flatter  relief  of  the 
figures  behind  them,  and  render  their  outlines  distinct  even  at  a  con- 
siderable distance.  With  a  view  to  protect  them  from  injury,  their 
surfaces  are  kept  broad  and  flat  throughout,  so  that  those  parts  of  the 
figures  which  are  in  the  highest  relief  do  not  protrude  beyond  the 
cornice,  or  the  pilasters  which  divide  the  pulpit." — Perkins'  Tuscan 
Sculptors. 


At  Prato. 


In  the  lunette  over  the  principal  entrance  is  the  Virgin 
between  S.  Stephen  and  S.  Laurence,  the  guardian  saints  of 


CATHEDRAL  OF  PRATO.  521 

the   church,   by  Andrea  della   Robbia   (1437 — 1528),   the 
nephew  and  scholar  of  Luca. 

'*  On  the  left  of  the  entrance  is  the  Cappella  della  Sacra  Cintola,  bnilt 
to  preserve  the  legendary  girdle  of  the  Virgin,  after  an  attempt  to  steal 
it,  in  order  to  sell  it  at  Florence,  had  been  made  by  a  thief,  who  was 
put  to  a  cruel  death.  With  its  rich  colouring,  its  black  marble  pillars, 
its  delicate  screen  and  swinging  lamps,  and  the  groups  of  people  ever 
kneeling  round  it,  this  chapel  is  a  capital  subject  for  an  artist  It  is 
separated  from  the  nave  by  a  curious  wrought-iron  screen  from  designs 
of  Fit.  Brunelleschi.  The  little  statue  of  the  Madonna  over  the  altar  is 
by  Gicfv.  Pisano.  The  walls  are  covered  with  frescoes  by  Agnolo  Gaddi, 
c-  1395,  which  tell  the  story  of  the  Cintola  : — 

Left  Wall.  The  History  of  the  Virgin  from  the  Rejection  of  Joa- 
chim to  the  Nativity. 

End  Wall.  The  Assumption  of  the  Virgin,  who  loosens  her  girdle 
as  she  ascends.     S.  Thomas  kneels  to  receive  it. 

Right  Wall.  S.  Thomas,  going  as  a  missionary  to  the  east,  entrusts 
the  girdle  to  a  disciple.  A  thousand  years  after,  the  girdle  is  bestowed 
as  a  dowry  upon  the  daughter  of  a  Greek  priest  at  Jerusalem  (in  whose 
family  it  had  been  kept)  upon  her  marriage  with  Michele  Dagomari 
of  Prato  who  had  joined  the  crusade  of  1096.  Michele  and  his  bride 
have  a  prosperous  voyage  to  Pisa,  the  casket  containing  the  girdle  being 
placed  at  the  foot  of  the  mast  of  the  vessel.  Being  arrived  at  home, 
Michele,  from  a  desire  the  better  to  guard  the  girdle,  placed  it  under 
his  bed,  and  the  angels  lifted  him  while  he  slept  to  the  bare  floor,  to 
reprove  such  irreverence.  On  his  death-bed  Michele  bequeaths  the 
girdle  to  Bishop  Uberto. 

' '  It  appears  to  me  that  the  picture  reflects  a  portion  of  the  poetry  it  con- 
tains. This  love  beyond  the  sea,  blended  with  the  chivalrous  adventures 
of  a  crusade — this  precious  relic,  given  in  dowry  to  a  poor  girl — the 
devotion  of  the  young  couple  to  this  revered  pledge  of  their  happiness — 
their  clandestine  departure — their  prosperous  voyage,  accompanied  by 
dolphins,  who  form  their  escort  on  the  surface  of  the  water — their 
arrival  at  Prato,  the  repeated  miracles,  which,  together  with  a  mortal 
malady,  draw  at  length  from  the  lips  of  the  dying  man  a  public  declara- 
tion, in  consequence  of  which  the  holy  girdle  was  deposited  in  the 
cathedral, — all  this  mixture  of  romantic  passion  and  naive  piety  effaces 
for  me  the  technical  imperfections  of  the  work." — Rio. 

There  is  a  rival  girdle  at  Tortosa  in  Spain,  brought  dovim  from 
heaven  in  11 78. 


522  ITALIAN  CITIES. 

Over  the  entrance,  the  story  of  the  gift  of  the  girdle  is  told  in  a  picture 
by  Rudolf o  Ghirlandajo. 

Beyond  the  4th  pillar  on  the  left,  stands  the  circular  pulpit.  The 
reliefs  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  and  Martyrdom  of  S.  Stephen 
are  by  Rossellino  (1473),  the  rest  by  Mino  da  Fiesole. 

Over  the  door  of  the  Sacristy  is  a  monument  by  Vicenzio  Danti,  1566, 
to  Carlo  de'  Medici,  a  natural  son  of  Cosimo  Pater  Patriae,  who  was 
Dean  of  this  Cathedral. 

In  the  choir  are  a  series  of  frescoes,  amongst  the  most  important  works 
of  Filippo  Lippi,  begun  in  1456,  for  the  most  part  illustrative  of  the 
lives  of  S.  Stephen  and  S.  J.  Baptist. 

The  Via  dei  Sarti  leads  from  the  Cathedral  to  a  small 
piazza,  containing  the  picturesque  Palazzo  del  Pretoria  of 
1284.  In  the  opposite  Palazzo  Comunale  (centre  door  on 
left)  is  a  small  Picture  Gallery,  chiefly  collected  from  sup- 
pressed convents  in  Prato.     It  contains  : — 

1.  Pacino  di  Buonaguida.     Madonna  and  Saints. 

2.  Taddeo  Gaddi  (a  gradino).    The  Assumption  and  the  Story  of  the 

Cintola. 

4.  Piero  di  Miniato  da  Pistoia  (a  gradino) .  The  Story  of  S.  Matthew. 

9.  Leonardo  Mascagni  da  Prato,  c.  1620.     The  Calling  of  S.  Mat- 
thew—  from  the  Convent  of  S.  Matteo. 

11.  Filippo  Lippi.     The  Gift  of  the  Cintola.     On  the  right  SS.  Gre- 

gorio  and  Margherita  present  a  Franciscan  nun ;  on  the  left 
are  S.  Luigi  Vescovo  and  the  angel  Raphael  with  Tobias. 

12.  Id.     The  Nativity. 

13.  Neri  di  Bicci.      Madonna   and  Child,    SS.    Roch,    Sebastian, 

Dominic,  and  Leonard — from  S.  Domenico. 

14.  Andrea  di  Giusto.     Virgin  and  Child  with  Saints. 

19.  Andrea  di  Firenze.     Virgin  and  Child  with  Saints. 

20.  Andrea  del  Castagno.     Crucifixion. 

21.  Filippo  Lippi.     Madonna  and  Child,  with  SS.  John  Baptist  and 

Stephen.     Below,  Francesco  di  Marco  Datini  presents  one  ot 

the  Buonuomini  of  the  hospital. 
23.  Angiolo  Allori.     Portrait  of  Baldo  Macini  of  Prato. 
35.  Francesco  Morandini  (Fopp'i).     S.  Raphael  and  Tobias. 

Hence  the  Via  del  Apianato  leads  to  the  Church  of  S. 
Francesco  with  a  striped  marble  front. 


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APPROACH  TO  FLORENCE.  523 

The  adjoining  Refectory  has  interesting  frescoes  by 
Niccoib  di  Piero  Gerini  (1390). 

Near  this  (left)  is  the  Church  of  La  Madonna  delle 
Carceri,  a  fine  Greek  cross  with  a  central  cupola,  built  1485 
— 91  from  designs  of  Giuliano  di  San  Gallo.  At  the  end 
of  the  Via  S.  Margherita  is  a  beautiful  Madonna  of  F. 
Filippo  Lippi,  of  1498. 

It  is  a  drive  of  about  5  miles  from  Prato  to  the  Castle  oj 
Monte  Murlo  in  the  Apennines,  once  celebrated  in  Floren- 
tine history,  belonging  to  the  Conte  della  Gherardesca,  a 
descendant  of  Ugolino.  It  is  chiefly  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury. 

(After  the  train  leaves  Prato  the  country  becomes  richer 
and  lovelier  at  every  step.  At  Sesto,  we  pass  near  the  villa 
and  china  manufactory  of  the  Marchese  Ginori ;  at  Castello, 
beneath  the  beautiful  royal  villa  of  La  Petraja  (see  Drives 
from  Florence),  and  then,  we  enter  "  The  city  of  Lilies,"  and 
glide  into  the  Railway  Station  just  behind  the  great  church 
of  S.  Maria  Novella.) 


END   OF  VOL.    II. 


INDEX. 


A. 

Abano,  i.  359 
Agordo,  i.  372 
Alassio,  i.  20 
Albaro,  i:  57 
Albenga,  i.  21 
Albizzola,  i.  26 
Alessandria,  ii.  185 
Altopasico,  ii.  507 
Alzano  Maggiore,  i.  227 
Ambrogiana,  villa  of,  iii.  249 
Ancona,  ii.  390 — 400 

Arch  of  Trajan,  393 

Cathedral,  395 

Churches — 
S.  Agostino,  398 
S.  Ciriaco,  39S> 
S.  Francesco  deL    Ospedale, 

399 
S.   Maria  della  Misericordia, 

398 
S.  Maria  Piazza,  398 
Loggia  dei  Mercanti,  398 
Palazzo  del  Comune,  400 
Anghiari,  iii.  411 
Angrogna,  i.  105 
Antelao,  the,  i.  373 
Aosta,  i.  109 
Areola,  i.  68 
Arezzo,  iii.  322 — 331 
Amphitheatre,  331 
Cathedral,  324 
Churches — 
S.  Annunziata,  331 
Badia,  La,  329 
S.  Francesco,  327 
S.  Maria  della  Pieve,  323 
Confraternity  della  Misericordia, 

326 
Palazzo  Pubblico,  323 


Arezzo — con  tin  ued. 

Piazza  Grande,  325 
Arona,  i.  206 
Arqua,  i.  362 
Asciano,  iii.  314 
Assisi,  iii.  370 — 401 
Cathedral,  380 
Churches — 
S.  Antonio,  382 
S.  Chiara,  381 
Chiesa  Nuova,  380 
S.  Damiano,  396 
S.  Francesco,  384 
S.    Francesco    delle  Carcere, 

394 
S.  Maria  degli  Angeli,  373 
Rio  Torto,  399 
S.  Rufino,  380 
Porziuncula,  La,  375 
Temple  of  Minerva,  379 
Avellana,  ii.  439 
Avenza,  i.  70 
Avigliana,  i.  89 

B. 

Badia  di  Settiwio,  iii.  214 
Bagnacavallo,  ii.  296 
Bagni  di  Lucca,  ii.  505 
Barga,  ii.  506 
Bassano,  i.  367 
Battaglia,  i.  361 
Baveno,  i.  210 
Belcaro,  castle  of,  iii.  294 
Belgirate,  i.  207 
Bellaggio,  i.  195 
Bellosguardo,  iii.  211 
Belluno,  i.  370 
Bergamo,  i.  216 

Accademia,  225 

Cappella  Colleoni,  234 


INDEX. 


Bergamo — continued. 
Cathedral,  224 
Churches— 
S.  Agostino,  224 
S.  Andrea,  227 
S.  Bartolommeo,  227 
S.  Bernardino,  227 
S.  Chiara,  217 
S.  Grata,  224 
S.  Maria  Maggiore,  219 
S.  Spirito,  226 
S.  Tommaso  in  Limine,  227 
Bergeggi,  i.  23 
Bevagna,  iii.  416 
Bibbiena,  iii.  228 
Biella,  i.  114 
Blevio,  i.  193 
Bobbi,  i.  105 
Bobbio,  ii.  194 
Bologna,  ii.  246 — 294 

Accademia  delle  Belle  Arti,  268 
Antico  Archiginnasio,  257 
Campo  Santo,  294 
Casa  Galvani,  287 

Lambertini,  365 
Rossini,  276 
Cathedral,  258 
Certosa,  the,  294 
Churches — 
S.  Annunziata,  285 
S.  Bartolommeo  di  P.  Rave- 

gnata,  261 
S.  Bartolommeo  di  Reno,  288 
S.  Benedetto,  289 
S.  Caterina  Vigri,  285 
S.  Cecilia,  284 
S.  Cristina,  277 
S.  Domenico,  281 
S.  Francesco,  287 
S.  Giacomo  Maggiore,  262 
S.  Giorgio,  289 
S.  Giovanni  in  Monte,  277 
S.  Gregorio,  289 
S.  Lucia,  280 

La  Madonna  di  S.  Luca,  293 
di  Galiera,  259 
di      Mezzaratta, 

290 
di   Misericordia, 

280 
in  Monte,  289 
S.  Maria  dei  Servi,  276 
S.  Martino,  266 
S.  Michele  in  Bosco,  293 
S.  Niccolo,  288 
S.  Paolo,  286 


Bologna — con  tin  ue 
S.  Petronio, 
S.  Pietro,  258 
S.  Procolo,  284 
S.  Salvatore,  287 
S.  Stefano,  278 
S.  Trinita,  277 
S.  Vitale  ed  Agricola,  275 
CoUegio  di  Spagna,  286 
Crocetta  di  Trebbio,  294 
Giardini  Pubblici,  289 
Liceo  Rossini,  265 
Loggia  dei  Mercanti,  261 
Montagnola,  289 
Orto  Botanico,  275 
Palazzo  Albergati,  287 
Bentivoglio,  275 
Bevilacqua,  286 
Bianchi,  277 
Bolognini,  280 
Fantuzzi,  276 
Fava,  259 
Grabinski,  284 
Hercolani,  277 
Malvezzi  Campeggi,  265 
Marescalchi,  288 
Montanari,  289 
Pedrazzi,  276 
Pepoli,  280 
Piella,  259 
del  Podesta,  252 
Pubblico,  252 
Zambeccari,  286 
Zampieri,  276 
Piazza  S.  Domenico,  280 
Maggiore,  254 
Nettuno,  251 
Portico  dei  Banchi,  254 
Torre  degli  Asinelli,  260 
della  Garisenda,  260 
Borgo  S.  Donino,  ii.  204 
Borgo  S.  Sepolcro,  iii.  407 
Bracco,  pass  of,  i.  62 
Brescia,  i.  241 — 254 

Biblioteca  Quiriniana,  245 
Broletto,  243 
Castle,  253 
Cathedrals,  244 
Churches — 
S.  Afra,  249 
S.  Alessandro,  250 
S.  Clemente,  246 
S.  Domenico,  251 
S.  Faustino  Maggiore,  251 
S.  Francesco,  251 
S.  Giovanni  Evangelista,  252 


34 


INDEX. 


Brescia — continued. 
S.  Giulia,  247 
Madonna  delle  Grazie,  250 

delle  Miracoli,  250 
S.  Maria  Calchera,  247 
S.  Nazzaro  e  Celso,  250 
S.  Pietro  in  Oliveto,  253 
Museo  Civico,  247 
Patrio,  245 
Palazzo  del  Municipio,  243 
Torre  del  Orologio,  243 
della  Palata,  251 
Brianza,  the,  i.  190 
Brienno,  i.  194 
Broni,  ii.  186 
Buonconvento,  iii.  299 
Busseto,  ii.  204 


Cadenabbia,  i.  195 
Cagli,  ii.  433 
Caldiero,  i.  321 
Camaldoli,  convent  of,  iii.  24a 
Camerino,  ii.  418 
Camerlata,  i.  183 
Camogli,  i.  58 
Campaldino,  iii.  223 
Campi,  School  of  the,  i.  231 
Campione,  i.  258 
Campo  Reggiano,  iii.  403 
Campo  Rosso,  i.  8 
Caprese,  iii.  412 
Caprile,  i.  372 
Careggi,  villa  of,  iii.  219 
Carmagnola,  i.  93 
Carrara,  i.  70 

Carrara  di  S.  Stefano,  i.  360 
Casale,  i.  117 
Cascina,  iii.  251 
Casebruciate,  ii.  392 
Casentino,  the,  iii.  226 
Castagnolo,  iii.  215 
Casteggio,  ii.  186 
Cast  el  Arquato,  ii.  204 
Castel  Catajo,  i.  360 
Castelfidardo,  ii.  401 
Castel  Franco,  i.  370 
Castel  Guelfo,  ii.  206 
Castellaro,  i.  18 
Castello,  iii.  219 
Castelluzzo,  i.  103 
Castel  Secco,  iii.  331 
Castiglione,  i.  210 
Castiglione  Fiorentino,  iii.  332 
Castiglione  d'Olona,  i.  204 


Cavallermaggiore,  i.  94 
Centa,  river,  i.  22 
Cernobbio,  i.  193 
Cerreto-Guidi,  iii.  250 
Certaldo,  iii.  251 
Certosa,  the,  i.  166 

of  the  Val  d'Emo,  iii.  208 
Cervaro,  i.  60 
Cervi,  i.  20 
Cesena,  ii.  363 
Cesenatico,  ii.  350 
Chatillon,  i.  109 
Chiana,  Val  di,  iii.  321 
Chiaravalle,  i.  163 
Chiavari,  i.  61 
Chiavenna,  i.  197 
Chioggia,  ii.  141 
Chivasso,  i.  117 
Chiusi,  iii.  319 
Cittadella,  i.  370 
Citta  di  Castello,  iii.  403 
Citta  del  Pieve,  iii.  321 
Civitella  Raniari,  iii.  403 
Cogoletto,  i.  27 
Colico,  i.  197 
Como,  i.  184 
Como,  lake  of,  i.  192 
Cortina  d'  Ampezzo,  i.  375 
Cortona,  iii.  333 — 338 
Cathedral,  337 
Churches — 

S.  Agostino,  338 

S.  Domenico,  334 

S.  Margherita,  335 

S.  Niccolo,  335 
Fortezza,  336 
Etruscan  Museum,  336 
Cospaglia,  Republic  of,  iii.  407 
Courmayeur,  i.  in 
Cremona,  i.  230 — 240 
Baptistery,  237 
Campo  Santo,  238 
Castle,  240 
Cathedral,  232 
Churches — 

S.  Abbondio,  233 

S.  Agata,  232 

S.  Agostino,  232 

S.  Giacomo  in  Breda,  232 

S.  Luca,  232 

S.  Margherita,  232 

S.  Nazzaro,  233 

S.  Pelagia,  233 

S.  Pietro  al  Po,  233 

S.  Sigismondo,  239 
Palazzo  Maggi,  232 


INDEX. 


Cremona — continued. 

Florence — continued. 

Palazzo  Pubblico,  238 

Cemeteries — 

Torrazzo,  237 

Florentine,  at  S.  Miniato,  201 

Cuneo,  i.  95 

Jewish,  188 

Custozza,  i.  302 

Protestant,  142 

Churches — 

S.  Ambrogio,  143 

D. 

S.  Annunziata,  138 

S.  Apostoli,  81 

Desenzano,  i.  255 

S.  Apollonia,  114 

Diano  Marina,  i.  20 

La  Badia,  55 

Dolceacqua,  i.  ^ 

S.  Biagio,  82 

Domo  d'Ossola,  i.  210 

Calze,  le,  184 

Dongo,  i.  197 

S.  Carlo  Borromeo,  87 

Donnaz,  i.  108 

Carmine,  the,  185 

S.  Croce,  69 

E. 

S.  Elisabetta,  184 

S.  Firenze,  67 

Empoli,  iii.  249 

S.  Frediano,  188 

Erba.  i.  190 

S.  Gaetano,  149 

Este,  i.  361 

S.  Giovanni  Battista,  loi 

Euganean  Hills,  i.  358 

S.  Giovannino,  117 

S.  Jacopo  sopr'  Amo,  18  r 
S.  Leonardo  in  Arcetri,  42 

F. 

S.  Lorenzo,  ro8 

Faenza,  ii.  353 

S.  Lucia,  160 

Fano,  ii.  387 — 390 

S.  Maddalena  dei  Pazzi,  141 

Feltre,  i.  370 

S.  Marco,  129 

Fermo,  ii.  414 

S.  Maria  in  Campidoglio,  89 

Fiesole,  iii.  193 

dei  Fiore,  95 

Finale  Marina,  i.  23 

Maggiore,  107 

Fiorenzuola,  ii.  204 

Nipaticosa,  88 

Florence,  iii.  i — 188. 

Novella,  149 

Accademia  della  Crasca,  18 

sopr'  Amo,  165 

delle  Belle  Arti,  131 

S.  Margherita  dei  Ricci,  50 

Filamionica,  80 

S.  Martino,  49 

del  Pimento,  18 

S.  Niccolo,  169 

Badia,  La,  54 

Ogni  Santi,  i6r 

Baptistery,  loi 

Or  S   Michele,  83 

Bargello,  57 

S.  Piero  Buonconsiglio,  89 

Bigallo,  91 

iScheraggio,  42 

Borgo  dei  Greci,  69 

S.  Pietro  Maggiore,  54 

S.  Apostoli,  8r 

S.  Salvador,  161 

dei  Pinti,  140 

S.  Sitnone,  80 

S.  Jacopo,  181 

S.  Spirito,  182 

Bridges  (Ponte) — 

S.  Stefano,  82 

Carraja,  161 

S.  Trinita,  15 

S.  Trinity,  r6i 

Convents — 

Vecchio,  164 

S.  Apollonia,  114 

alle  Grazie,  i63 

Carmine,  185 

Campanile  of  Giotto,  94 

S.  Croce,  78 

Canto  delle  Colonnine,  68 

Maratte,  79 

Cantonata  dei  Pazzi,  52 

S.  Maddalena  dei  Pazzi,  141 

Cascine,  the,  160 

S.  Marco,  117 

Cathedral,  95 

S.  Maria  degli  Angeli,  140 

CoUegio  Eugeniano,  105 

S.  Maria  Novella,  159 

INDEX. 


Florence — con  tin  ued. 

S.  Onofrio,  158 
Croce  al  Trebbio,  149 
Egyptian  Museum,  159 
Fortezza  di  S.  Giorgio,  169 
Galleries — 

Uffizi,  19 

Feroni,  34 

Pitti,  172 
Gardens — 

Boboli,  181 

Ruccellai,  160 

Torregiani,  184 
Gates  (Porta)— 

S.  Frediano,  188 

S.  Gallo,  114 

S.  Giorgio,  169 

S.  Niccolo,  169 

S.  Romana,  185 
Hospitals  (Ospedale) — 

Innocenti,  138 

S.  Maria  Nuova,  144 

della  Scala,  159 

S.  Matteo,  151 

Misericordia,  92 
Houses  (Case)  of — 

Alfieri,  17 

S.  Antonino,  170 

Corso  Donati,  54 

Dante,  49 

Folco  Portinari,  50 

Fra  Bartolommeo,  184 

Ghiberti,  144 

Guidi,  170 

Mariotto  Albertinelli,  49 

Michael  Angelo,  80 

Niccol6  Soderini,  182 

S.  Zenobio,  82 
Libraries — 

Magliabecchian,  18 

Marucelliana,  117 

Nazionale,  18 

Palatine,  18 

Riccardi,  117 
Marzocco,  the,  43 
Mercato  Nuovo,  82 

Vecchio,  89 
Palaces  (Palazzo) — 

Alessandri,  53 

Antinori,  149 

Arte  di  Lana,  87 

Barbadori,  181 

Barberini,  69 

Borgherini,  81 

Canigiani,  168 

Capponi,  140 


Florence — continued. 

della  Cavajola,  89 
Cento  Finestre,  107 
Cerchi,  49 
Cocchi,  69 
Conte  Bardi,  80 
Corsini,  162 
dei  Galli,  53 
Gondi,  67 
Guadagni,  184 
Guicciardini,  171 
Martelli,  117 
della  Mercanzia,  36 
Montalvo,  53 
del  Municipio,  81 
Nonfinito,  52 
Orlandini,  107 
Pandolfini,  114 
Pitti,  171 
Quaratesi,  52 
Riccardi,  115 
Ridolfi,  171 
Rinuccini,  182 
Salviati,  50 
Seristori,  69 
Spini,  17 
Strozzi,  146 
Stufa,  69 
Torrigiani,  168 
del  Turco,  81 
Uffizi,  18 
Uguccione,  36 
Valori,  54 
Vecchio,  42 
Velluti  Zuti,  140 
Passage  of  the  Ponte  Vecchio, 

35 
Piazza — 
della  Annunziata,  137 
d'Azeglio,  143 
del  Carmine,  188 
dei  Castellani,  68 
S.  Croce,  69 
del  Duonio,  104 
S.  Felicita,  169 
S.  Firenze,  67 
dei  Giudici,  68 
del  Grano,  68 
deir  Indipendenza,  158 
Manin,  161 
S.  Maria  Novella,  149 
S.  Miniato  tra  due  Torre,  90 
de  Renai,  169 
della  Signoria,  35 
S.  Spirito,  184 
S.  Triniti,  15 


lADEX. 


Florence — continued. 
Streets  (Via)— 

Albizzi,  52 

AUegri,  79 

S.  Agostino,  184 

dei  Bardi,  165 

Calimala,  91 

Calzaioli,  83 

Cerretani,  149 

Condotta,  48 

S.  Egidio,  144 

dei  Fibbiai,  141 

del  Fosso,  80 

S.  Gallo,  114 

dei  Ginori,  114 

Giraldi,  80 

Ghibellina,  79 

Guicciardini,  169 

Maggio,  170 

dei  Malcontenti,  78 

della  Mandoria,  140 

Marsigli,  170 

della  Morta,  104 

Nazionale,  158 

dei  Oricellari,  159 

Parione,  162 

Pelliceria,  91 

della  Pergola,  141 

dei  Pinti,  141 

Por  S.  Maria,  82 

Porta  Rossa,  83 

S.  Sebastiano,  141 

Seragli,  184 

S.  Spirito,  183 

Tornabuoni,  146 

dei  Vecchietti,  89 
Theatre  of  the  Pagliano,  80 
Towers  (Torre) — 

dei  Amidei,  82 

Barbadore,  112 

Bocca  di  Ferro,  49 

dei  Donati,  50 

S.  Zenobio,  82 
Foligno,  iii.  415 
Forli,  ii.  356 — 362 
Cathedral,  357 
Citadel,  362 
Churches— 

S.  Girolamo,  358 

S.  Mercuriale,  357 

The  Servi,  359 
Pinacoteca,  359 
Forlimpopoli,  ii.  363 
Fort  Bard,  i.  108 
Fratta,  iii.  402 
Furlo,  pass  of  the,  ii.  432 


Galicano,  ii.  506 
Gallinara,  island  of,  i.  21 
Garda,  i.  260 
Garda,  lake  of,  i.  256 
Gargnano,  i.  258 
Garlanda,  i.  22 
Genoa,  i.  29 — 56 

Acqua  sola,  promenade  of,  47 
Albergo  dei  Poveri,  47 
Banco  di  S.  Giorgio,  36 
Campo  Santo,  57 
Cathedral,  37 
Churches — 
S.  Agostino,  54 
S.  Ambrogio,  42 
S.  Annunziata,  46 
S.  Donato,  54 
S.  Giacomo,  53 
S.  Giovanni  di  Pr^,  51 
S.  Maria  di  Carignano,  54 
S.  Maria  di  Castello,  53 
S.  Matteo,  39 
S.  Siro,  46 
S.  Stefano,  56 
House  of  Andrea  Doria,  39 
Loggia  dei  Banchi,  35 
Piazza — 
Acqua  Verde,  50 
Bianchi,  35 
Carlo  Felice,  42 
Embriaci,  53 
Pontoria,  54 
Ponte  di  Carignano,  54 
Porta  di  S.  Andrea,  56 

S.  Tommaso,  51 
Porto  Franco,  36 
Strada  degU  Orefici,  35 
Gombo,  the,  ii.  479 
Gravedona,  i.  197 
Gravellona,  i.  210 
Gressoney  S.  Jean,  i.  215 
Gubbio,  ii.  434 — 438 
Guesella,  the,  i.  376 


Idro,  lake  of,  i.  260 
II  Deserto,  i.  27 
Imola,  ii.  296 
Impruneta,  iii.  210 
Inciso,  i.  190 
Intra,  i.  211 
Iseo,  lake  of,  i.  228 


INDEX. 


Isola  Bella,  i.  207 

Comaccina,  i.  194 
dei  Frati,  i.  257 
S.  Giulio,  i.  213 
Madre,  i.  209 
dei  Pescatore,  i.  209 

Ivrea,  i.  108 


La  Cattolica,  ii.  385 
Civetta,  i.  372 
Chiusa,  i.  91 
Falterona,  iii.  241 
Penna,  iii.  241 
Tour,  i.  103 
Vemia,  iii.  229 
Verruca,  ii.  480 
Lampedusa,  i.  18 
Laveno,  i.  211 
Lecco,  i.  195 
Leghorn,  ii.  481 
Legnago,  i.  366 
Lerici,  i.  66 
Levanto,  i.  63 
Limone,  i.  258 
Loano,  i.  22 
Locarno,  i.  212 
Lonigo,  i.  321 
Loreto,  ii.  402 — 411 
Lucca,  ii.  491 — 504 
Cathedral,  492 
Churches — 
S.  Cristoforo,  504 
S.  Francesco,  497 
S.  Frediano,  49S 
S.  Giovanni,  466 
S.  Giusto,  504 
S.  Maria  Forisportam,  497 
S.  Maria  della  Rosa,  497 
S.  Michele,  500 
S.  Pietro  Somaldo,  497 
S.  Romano,  504 
S.  Salvatore,  504 
Galleria  delle  Belle  Arti,  501 
Palazzo  Guinigi,  497 
Pubblico,  492 
Lucignano,  iii.  314 
Lugano,  i.  200 

lake  of,  i.  199 
Lugliano,  ii.  506 
Lugo,  ii.  296 
Luino,  i.  201,  211 
Luna,  i.  69 


M. 

Macagno  Inferiore,  i.  211 
Macerata,  ii.  413 
Macugnaga,  i.  210 
Maderno,  i.  258 
Madonna  d'Oropa,  i.  T14 
Maggiore,  lake  of,  i.  206 
Malcesine,  i.  260 
Malmantile,  iii.  215 
Mantua,  i.  303 — 320 

Argine  del  Mulino,  366 
Casa  di  Mantegna,  313 
Castello  di  Corte,  310 
Cathedral,  308 
Churches — 
S.  Andrea,  312 
S.  Maria  delle  Grazie,  317 
S.  Sebastiano,  312 
Museo,  311 
Palazzo — 
Bianchi,  311 
Castigiioue,  311 
Ducale,  309 
Guerrieri,  311    - 
della  Ragione,  312 
del  T6,  313 
Piazza  Dante,  312  - 

delle  Erbe,  312   . 
S.  Pietro,  317 
Virgiliana,  311 
Ponte  S.  Giorgio,  311    .  . 
Torre  della  Gabbia,  308 
del  Zuccaro,  308 
Malelica,  ii.  417 
Menaggio,  i.  199 
Mendrisio,  i.  189 
Metaurus,  the,  ii.  391 
Milan,  i.  121 — 163 

Arco  della  Pace,  i.  151 

Archaeological  Museum,  153 

BibliotecaAmbrosiana,  148 

Brera,  the,  153 

Castello,  152 

Cathedral,  124 

Cenacolo  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci, 

145 
Churches — 

S.  Ambrogio,  130 

S.  Carlo  Bbrromeo,  150 

S.  Celso,  138 

S.  Eustorgio,  136 

S.  Fedele,  150 

S.  Giorgio  in  Palazzo,  130 

S.  Giovanni  in  Conca,  142 

5.  Lorenzo,  135 


I 


INDEX. 


Milan — con  tin  ued. 

S.  Marco,  156 
S.  Maria  del  Carmine.  152 
S.  Maria  delle  Grazie,  145 
S.  Maria  presso  S.  Cslso,  138 
S.  Maurizio,  144 
S.  Nazaro  Maggiore,  138 
S.  Pietro  Martire,  136 
S.  Satiro,  142 
S.  Sempliciano,  151 
S.  Sepolcro,  149 
S.  Stefano  in  Broglio,  141 
Colonne  di  S.  Lorenzo,  131 
Galleria  Vittorio  Emanuele,  139 
La  Scala,  Theatre  of,  150 
Loggia  degli  Ossi,  145 
Ospedale  Maggiore,  140 
Palazzo  della  Citta,  145 
del  Ragione,  145 
Litta,  145 
Trivulzi,  139 
Piazza  d'Armi,  151 

del  Duomo,  129 
della  Scala,  150 
del  Tribunale,  145 
Seminario  Arcivescovile,  150 
Mincio,  the,  i.  303 
Mirabouc,  i.  105 
Modena,  ii.  232 — 245 
Cathedral,  235 
Churches — 
S.  Francesco,  244 
S.  Giovanni  Decollato,  245 
S.  Maria  Pomposa,  245 
S.  Pietro,  244 
S.  Vincenzo,  244 
La  Ghirlandaja,  237 
Palazzo  Ducale,  240 
Piazza  Reale,  240 

Grande,  236 
Pinacoteca,  240 
University,  244 
Moncalieri,  i.  89 
Monferrat,  duchy  of,  i.  117 
Monselice,  i.  361 
Monte-Apjerto,  iii.  297 
Montebello,  i.  321  ;  ii.  186 
Monte  Berico,  i.  331 
Montecatini,  ii.  507 
Monte  Catini,  mines  of,  ii.  489 
Montecchio,  i.  333  ;  ii.  226 
Monte  Chiaro,  ii.  194 
Monte  Conero,  ii.  400 
Monte  Corona,  iii.  403 
Montefalco,  iii.  417 
Monte  Generoso,  i.  189 


Montegrotto,  i.  360 
Montelupo,  iii.  248 
Monte  Murlo,  ii.  522 
Monte  Nero,  ii.  482 
Montepulciano,  iii.  315 
Monteriggione,  iii.  252 
Monte  S.  Bartolo,  ii.  387 
Monte  Venda,  i.  358 
Monte  Zago,  ii.  204 
Montjovet,  i.  109 
Monza,  i.  179 
Moriano,  ii.  504 
Murano,  ii.  149 
Musso,  i.  197 
Muzzano,  lake  of,  i.  201 


N. 


Nervi,  i.  58 
Nesso,  i.  194 
Noli,  i.  23 
Novalesa,  i.  92 
Novara,  i.  168 


O. 


Olera,  i.  227 
Orta,  lake  of,  212 
Orvieto,  iii.  321 
Osimo,  ii.  401 


Padua,  i.  335—358 

Archivio  Pubblico,  341 
Baptistery,  342 
Cathedral,  342 
Churches — 

S.  Antonio,  347 

S.  Antonino,  351 

S.  Bovo,  344 

Carmine,  338 

Eremitani,  353 

S.  Francesco,  353 

S.  Giorgio,  351 

S.  Giustina,  345 

S.  Maria  dell'  Arena,  353 

S.  Maria  Nuova,  351  " 

S.  Maria  in  Vanzo,  344 
II  Bo,  341 
Loggia  del  Consiglio,  339 

Municipale,  344 
Orto  Botanico,  346 
Palazzo— 

del  Capitan,  339 

del  Municipio,  341 


INDEX. 


Padua: — con  tin  ued. 
Papafava,  344 
della  Ragione,  340 
Piazza — 
S.  Antonio,  347 
delle  Elbe,  339 
delle  Frutte,  339 
dei  Signori,  339 
Prato  della  Valle,  344 
Scuola  del  Santo,  352 
Tomb  of  Antenor,  352 
Torre  d'  Ezzelino,  339 

S.  Tommaso,  344 
University,  339 
Pallanza,  i.  211 
Palmaria,  island  of,  i.  65 
Parma,  ii.  207 — 225 

Archaeological  Museum,  219 
Baptistery,  216 
Camera  di  S.  Paolo,  224 
Cathedral,  211 
Churches — 

S.  Alessandro,  218 
Annunziata,  225 
S.  Giovanni  Evangelista,  212 
S.  Maria  della  Steccata,  217 
S.  Sepolcro,  211 
CoUegio  Lalatta,  211 
Palazzo  Farnese,  219 

del  Giardino,  225 
Pilotta,  225 
Piazza  di  Corte,  217 

Grande,  211 
Pinacoteca,  220 
Teatro  Farnese,  219 
Parola,  ii.  206 
Passerino,  iii.  411 
Pavia,  i.  172 — 178 
Bridge,  177 
Castello,  175 
Cathedral,  173 
Churches — 
S.  Crooe,  174 
S.  Francesco,  176 
S.  Maria  delle  Carmine,  174 
S.  Michele,  176 
S.  Pietro  in  Cielo  d'Oro,  174 
Collegio  Ghislieri,  176 
Palazzo  Malaspina,  174 
Tomb  of  S.  Augustine  at,  173 
University  of,  175 
Pegli,  i.  27 
Pelago,  iii.  223 
Pella,  i.  213 
Pelmo,  the,  i.  376 
Perarolo,  i.  373 
Peretola,  iii.  216 


Penigia,  iii.  343—367 
Arco  d'Augusto,  356 
Biblioteca  Pubblica,  347 
Casa  Baldeschi,  346 

di  Pietro  Perugino,  363 
Cathedral,  350 
Churches — 
S.  Agnese,  358 
S.  Agostino,  357 
S.  Angelo,  357 
S.  Antonio,  355 
S.  Bernardino,  362 
S.  Domenico,  364 
S.  Ercolano,  363 
S.    Francesco  degli   Conven- 

tuali,  362 
S.  Francesco  al  Monte,  358 
S.  Giuliana,  367 
S.  Lorenzo,  356 
S.  Maria  Assunta,  356 
S.  Maria  di  Monte  Luco,  363 
S.  Pietro  dei  Casinensi,  365 
S.  Severo,  355 
Etruscan  Museum,  362 
La  Veduta,  367 
Palazzo  Antinori,  356 

Conestabili  Staffa,  355 
Monaldi,  346 
Pubblico,  349 
Piazza  del  Papa,  353 

Sopramuro,  346 
Pinacoteca,  358 
Porta  Manzia,  345 
Sala  del  Cambio,  347 
Tomb  of  the  Volumnii,  368 
Torre  degli  Sciri,  363 
University,  358 
Pesaro,  ii.  385 
Peschiera,  i.  261 
Pescia,  ii.  507 
Pesia,  Certosa  of,  i.  95 
Petraja,  iii.  218 
Piacenza,  ii.  187 — 194 
Cathedral,  188 
Churches — 
S.  Agostino,  193 
S.  Antonio,  189 
S.  Giovanni  in  Canale,  193 
S.  Francesco,  198 
S.  Maria  della  Campagna,  191 
S.  Sepolcro,  191 
S.  Sisto,  192 
S.  Vincenzo,  189 
Hospital  of  S.  Lazzaro,  193 
Palazzo  Communale,  190 
Farnese,  192 
Piano,  lake  of,  i.  199 


INDEX. 


Piccolo  Paggi,  i.  60 
Pienza,  iii.  317 
Pietra  Santa,  i.  72 
Pinerolo,  i.  103 
Pisa,  li.  440 — 480 

Accademia  delle  Belle  Arti,  471 
Baptistery,  451 
Campanile,  446 
Campo-Santo,  452 
Cascine,  479 
Cathedral,  416 
Churches — 
S.  Biagio,  477 
S.  Caterina,  475 
Cavalieri  di  S.  Stefano,  472 
S.  Francesco,  470 
S.  Maria  delle  Spine,  468 
S.  Matteo,  477 
S.  Michele  in  Borgo,  479 
S.  Niccola,  469 
S.  Paolo  del  Orto,  476 
S.  Paolo  Ripa  d'Arno,  478 
S.  Pietro  in  Grado,  480 
S.  Sepolcro,  477 
S.  Sisto,  475 
Giardino  Botanico,  470 
Palazzo  Agostino,  469 
dei  Banchi,  478 
Conventuale  dei  Cava- 
lieri, 475 
del  Governo,  478 
Gualandi,  475 
Lanfreducci,  469 
Pieracchi,  478 
Toscanelli,  478 
Ponte  alia  Fortezza,  477 
al  Mare,  470 
del  Mezzo,  469 
University,  469 
Pisogne,  i.  228 
Pistoia,  ii.  510 — 519 
Baptistery,  516 
Cathedral,  517 
Churches — 
S.  Andrea,  517 
S.  Bartolommeo,  511 
S.  Domenico,  511 
S.  Francesco,  517 
S.  Giovanni  Evangelista,  511 
S.  Jacopo,  514 
S.  Maria  dell'  Umilti,  518 
S.  Paolo,  512 
S.  Pietro  Maggiore,  512 
S.  Salvatore,  517 
Palazzo  del  Comune,  513 

Pretorio,  514 
Piazza  Maggiore,  513 


Po,  river,  i.  84,  85 
Poggibonsi,  iii.  252 
Poggio  a  Cajano,  iii.  216 
Poggio  Imperiale,  iii.  199 
Pontassieve,  iii.  222 
Pontedera,  iii.  251 
Ponte  Felcino,  iii.  402 
Ponte  Grande,  i.  210 
Ponte  S.  Martino,  i.  108 
Poppi,  iii.  227 
Porlezza,  i.  199 
Porto,  i.  201 
Porto  Fino,  i.  60 

Maurizio,  i.  20 

Recanati,  ii.  412 

Venere,  i.  62 
Pozzolengo,  i.  261 
Pra  del  lor,  i.  261 
Prato,  ii.  519 
Pratolino,  iii.  197 
Prato  Vecchio,  iii.  246 

R. 

Racconigi,  94 
Radicofani,  iii.  317 
Rapallo,  i.  61 
Ravenna,  ii.  295 — 352 

Arcivescovado,  320 

Biblioteca  Communale,  323 

Cathedral,  320 

Churches — 
S.  Agata,  323 
S.  ApoUinare  Nuovo,  327 
S.  ApoUinare  in  Classe,  337 
S.  Domenico,  315 
S.  Francesco,  323 
S.  Giovanni  Battista,  303 
S.  Giovanni  Evangelista,  316 
S.  Maria  in  AfFrisco,  316 
S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  303 
S.  Maria  Maggiore,  307 
S.  Maria  in  Porta  Fuori,  332 
S.  Nazaro  e  Celso,  304 
S.  Niccolo,  323 
S.  Spirito,  302 
S.  Teodoro,  302 
S.  Vitale,  308 

Colonna  dei  Frances!,  348 

House  of  Byron,  349 

Mausoleum   of  Galla   Placidia, 

314 
Palazzo  Communale,  317 
Guiccioli,  349 
Theodoric,  of,  330 
Piazza  dell'  Aquila,  317 
S.  Francesco,  324 


INDEX. 


Ravenna — continued. 

Maggiore,  317 
Pinacoteca,  321 
Tomb  of  Dante,  324 

the  Exarch  Isaac,  315 
Theodoric,  324 
Recanati,  ii.  412 
Recoaro,  i.  334 
Reggie,  ii.  231 
Rho,  i.  206 
Rimini,  ii.  365—377 
Amphitheatre,  374 
Arch  of  Augustus,  373 
Bridge  of  Augustus,  373 
Castle  of  the  Malatesti,  376 
Churches — 
S.  Chiara,  374 
S.  Francesco,  367 
S.  Giuliano,  376 
Palazzo  del  Comune,  375 

Ruffo,  375 
Piazza  Cavour,  374 

Giulio  Cesare,  371 
Ripafratta,  ii.  490 
Riva,  i.  259 

Rocca  di  Fontenellato,  ii.  206 
Rocca  Silana,  ii.  489 
Rora,  i.  106 
Rovigo,  i.  365 
Rubicon,  the,  ii.  350 
Rusina,  ii.  226 
Ruta,  i.  59 


Sacro  Monte  of  Orta,  i.  213 

Varallo,  i.  213 
Varese,  i.  202 

Sagro  di  S.  Michele,  i.  84 

S.  Agostino,  i.  6 
Ambrogio,  i.  89 
Angelo  in  Vado,  ii.  365 
Columba,  tomb  of,  iii.  293 
Domenico  di  Fiesole,  iii.  i8g 
Fiora,  mountain  of,  iii.  317 
Fruttuoso,  convent  of,  i.  60 
Gimignano,  iii.  302 — 311 
Giovanni  Ilarione,  i.  333 
Giuliano,  ii.  490 
Giustino,  iii.  407 
Leo,  ii.  382 
Lorenzo  al  Mare,  i.  20 
Margherita,  i.  60 
Maria  Pomposa,  ii.  352 
Marino,  republic  of,  ii.  377 
Martino,  i.  261 


S.  Michele,  Sagro  di,  i.  89 
Miniato,  iii.  199 
Miniato  dei  Tedeschi,  iii.  251 
Niccolo,  ii.  186 
Pierino,  iii.  251 
Quirico,  iii.  318 
Remo,  i.  13 
Roroolo,  i.  16 
Salvatore,  Monte  di,  i.  201 
Salvi,  convent  of,  iii.  199 
Severino,  ii.  417 
Stefano  al  Mare,  i.  20 
Vivaldo,  iii.  311 
Salarco,  iii,  315 
Salo,  i.  358 
Saluzzo,  i.  94 
Sambonifazio,  i.  321 
Sandria,  i.  200 

Santuario,  the,  of  Savona,  i.  24 
Samico,  i.  228 
Sarzana,  i.  68 
Sarzanello,  i.  69 
Sassoferrato,  ii.  417 
Savigliano,  i.  94 
Savignano,  ii.  365 
Savona,  i.  23 
Sermione,  i.  255 
Serravalle,  ii.  508 
Serravezza,  i.  73 
Sestri,  di  Levante,  i.  61 
Settignano,  iii.  198 
Shelley,  death  of,  i.  67 
Siena,  iii.  252 — 296 
Badia,  La,  289 
Biblioteca  Communale,  285 
Casa  di  S.  Caterina,  276 

deir  Opera,  272 
Cathedral,  265 
Churches — 
S.  Agostino,  287 
S.  Ansano,  292 
S.  Bernardino,  289 
Carmine,  288 
Concessione,  286 
S.  Cristoforo,  285 
S.  Domenico,  278 
Fonte  Giusta,  290 
S.  Francesco,  288 
S.  Giovanni  Battista,  273 
Osservanza,  La,  293 
S.  Quirico,  288 
Servi  di  Maria,  286 
S.  Spirito,  286 
CoUegio  Tolomei,  288 
Fonte  Branda,  276 
Gaja,  256 


INDEX. 


Sien  a — contin  tied. 

Nuova,  289 
Hospital  of  S.  Maria  della  Scala, 

273 
Istituto  delle  Belle  Arti,  281 
Lizza,  La,  289 
Loggia  dei  Nobili,  263 
del  Papa,  263 
Palazzo  Buonsignori,  287 
del  Capitano,  264 
dei  Diavoli,  294 
Grottanelli,  264 
Magnifico,  274 
Piccolomini,  263 
Piccolomini    delle    Pa- 

pesse,  263 
Saracini,  263 
Spanocchi,  289 
University,  286 
Sigfna,  iii.  215 
Sinalunga,  iii.  314 
Sinigaglia,  ii.  391 
Soci,  iii.  241 
Solferrino,  i.  256 
Spello,  iii.  413 
Spezia,  gulf  of,  i.  63 
Spotorno,  i.  23 
Stresa,  i.  207 
Stupinigi,  i.  89 
Superga,  La,  i.  89 
Susa,  i.  92  , 
Sylvano,  i.  60 

T. 

Taggia,  i.  17 
Tai  Cadore,  i.  373 
Tavernola,  i.  228 
Tenda,  Col  di,  i.  95 
Terminara,  i.  373 
Thrasymene,  iii.  338 
Ticino,  river,  i.  177,  178 
Tolentino,  ii.  416 
Torcello,  ii.  153 
Tortona,  ii.  185 
Toscolano,  i.  358 
Trascorre,  i.  227 
Trebbia,  the,  ii.  186 
Trissino,  i.  333 
Turin,  i.  74 — 86 

Accademia,  80 

Armoury,  77 

Cappuchin  Convent,  85 

Cathedral,  78 

Churches — 
Consolata,  La,  79 


Turin — continued. 

Corpus  Domini,  79 

S.  Lorenzo,  79 

Madre  di  Dio,  85 

Superga,  87 
Palazzo — 

Carignano,  80 

Madama,  76 

Municipio,  79 

Reale,  77 

Valentino,  86 
Piazza — 

Carignano,  80 

Carlo  Alberto,  84 

Carlo  Felice,  76 

Castello,  76 

di  Citta,  79 

Savoia,  79 
Public  Gardens,  85 

U. 

Urbino,  ii.  420 — 431 

Accademia  delle  Belle  Arti,  426 
Casa  Santi,  427 
Cathedral,  425 
Churches — 
•  S.  Bernardino,  429 
Francesco,  429 
Giovanni  Battista,  429 
Spirito,  429 
Ducal  Palace,  421 
Urbisaglia,  ii.  417 
Uso,  the,  ii.  350 


Vado,  i.  23 

Val  di  Camporciero,  i.  108 
Valdagno,  i.  333 
Valdieri,  baths  of,  i.  95 
Valeggio,  i.  302 
Valenza,  i.  117 
Varallo,  i.  213 
Varenna,  i.  ig6 
Varese,  i.  20 
Varigotti,  i.  23 
Venas,  i.  376 
Venice,  ii.  i — 156 

Abbazia  della  Misericordia,  109 

Accademia,  51 

Archaeological  Museum,  45 

Armenian  Convent,  136 

Arsenal,  97 

Bridge  of  Sighs,  40 


INDEX. 


Venice — continued. 

Campanile,  i6 

Campo — 
S.  Angelo,  105 
S.  Angelo  Raffaello,  116 
S.  Benedetto,  106 
S.  Giovanni  in  Bragora,  100 
S.  Maria,  131 
S.  Maria  Formosa,  82,  83 
S.  JIargherita,  117 
S.  Paternian,  106 
S.  Polo,  132 
S.  Stefano,  105 
S.  Zaccaria,  81 

Campiello  Angaran,  119 

del  la  St  rope,  131 

Canareggio,  the,  114 

Casa  Businello,  66 
Ferro,  79 
Goldoni,  130 

Churches — 
S.  Andrea,  119 
S.  Angelo  di  Murano,  149 
S.  Antonino,  82 
S.  Aponal,  132 
S.  Apostoli,  75,  109 
S.  Biagio,  96 

S.  Donato  di  Murano,  148 
S.  Fosca  di  Torcello,  153 
S.  Francesco  delle  Vignc,  92 
S.  Geremia,  73 
S.  Giacomo  del  Orio,  130 
S.  Giacomo  del  Rialto,  68 
S.  Giobbe,  114 
S.  Giorgio,  135 
S.  Giorgio  dei  Greci,  82 
S.  Giovanni  in  Bragora,  99 
S.  Giovanni  Crisostomo,  107 
S.  Giovanni  e  Paolo,  84 
S.  Gregorio,  50 
S.  Giuliano,  107 
S.  Giuseppe  di  Castello,  94 
S.  Lazaro.  91 
S.  Luca,  105 
S.  Marco,  19 
S.  Marcuola,  73 
S.  Maria  del  Carmine,  117 
S.  Maria  Formosa,  82 
S.  Maria  dei  Frari,  125 
S.  Maria  dei  Gesuiti,  109 
S.  Maria  Mater  Domini,  131 
S.  Maria  dei  Miracoli,  107 
S.  Maria  del  Orto,  no 
S.  Maria  della  Salute,  47 
S.  Maria  Zobenigo,  103 
S.  Martino,  99 


Venice — contin  ued. 

S.  Marziale,  no 

S.  Maurizio,  104 

S.  Moise,  103 

S.  Niccol6  al  Lido,  139 

S.  Niccol6  al  Tolentino,  119 

S.  Pantaleone,  118 

S.  Pietro  di  Castello,  94 

S.  Pietro  di  Murano,  149 

S.  Polo,  132 

S.  Raffaello.  116 

II  Redentore,  134 

S.  Rocco,  125 

S.  Salvatore,  106 

I  Scalzi,  72 

S.  Silvestro,  67 

S.  Simeone  Grande,  70 

S.  Spirito,  117 

S.  Stae,  70 

S.  Stefano,  104 

S.  Trovaso,  115 

S.  Vitale,  79 

S.  Zaccaria,  80 
Corte  del  Maltese,  106 
del  Sabion,  107 
del  Rener,  75 
Doges  of,  6 
Fondaco  dei  Tedeschi,  75 

dei  Turchi,  71 
Frari,  the,  125 
Giardini  Papadopoli,  119 

Pubblici,  94 
Giudecca,  the,  134 
Gondolas,  10 
Grimani  Breviary,  the,  41 
Islands — 

Burano,  149 

Castello,  102 

S.  Elena,  138 

S.  Giorgio,  135 

Giudecca,  134 

S.  Lazaro,  136 

S.  Michele,  145 

Mazzorbo,  149 

Murano,  146 

S.  Niccol6,  102 

Pelestina,  141 

S.  Pietro,  93 

Poeggia,  141 

S.  Servolo,  140 

Sotto  Marina,  141 

Torcello,  150 
Libreria  di  S.  Marco,  41 

Vecchie,  15 
Lido,  the,  138 
Loggia  sotto  11  Campanile,  17 


INDEX. 


Venice — con  tin  ued. 
Museo  Corner,  71 
Orto  Botanico,  114 
Palazzo — 

Badoer,  100 

Balbi,  65 

Barbarigo  delle  Terrazze,  66 

Bembo,  82 

Benzon,  tj 

Bernardo,  66 

Ca  d'Oro,  74 

Camerlenghi,  70 

Capello,  132 

Cavalli,  'j-j,  79 

Contarini,  78,  106 

Contarini  delle  Scrigni,  63 

Capovilla,  71 

Corner  della  Ca  Grande,  79 
della  Regina,  70 
Spinelli,  78 

Dandolo,  76 

Dario,  51 

Dona,  66 

Ducale,  30 

Duodo,  71 

Emo,  79 

Erizzo,  74 

Falier,  108 
|Farsetti,  77 

Fini,  79 

Foscari,  63 

Foscarini,  117 

Grassi,  78 

Grimani,  74,  77,  82 

Grimani  a  S.  Polo,  65 

Giustiniani,  79 

Giustiniani  Lonin,  78 

Labia,  73 

Loredan,  76,  105 

Manfrin,  73 

Manin,  76 

Manzoni,  51 

Marcello,  74 

Martinengo,  "jj 

Michele  delle  Colonne,  75 

Mocenigo,  78 

Moro  Lin,  78 

Morosini,  75,  105 

Municipio,  77 

Persico,  65 

Pesaro,  70 

Pisani,  65,  105 

Polo,  107 

Rezzonico,  63 

Sagredo,  75 

Sanudo,  108 


Venice — cotttin  ued. 
Tiepolo,  65 
Trevisan,  8 
Tron,  71 

Vendramin  Calenghi,  73 
Zenobio,  117 
Papadopoli  Gardens,  119 
Piazza  S.  Marco,  17 
Piazzetta,  15 
Pietra  del  Bardo,  16 
Piombi,  the,  39 
Ponte  del  Corner,  131 
del  Paradiso,  80 
S.  Polo,  132 
del  Rialto,  68 
dei  Sospiri,  40 
S.  Toma,  130 
Pozzi,  the,  41 
Procuratie  Nuove,  15 

Vecchie,  15 
Railway  Station,  7 
Rialto,  67 

Scala  dei  Giganti,  33 
Scuola  degli  Albanese,  104 

S.  Giovanni  Evangelista, 

132 
S.  Marco,  91 
S.  Rocco,  119 
Statue  of  Bartolommeo  Colle- 
,    one,  84 
Teatro  Rossini,  106 
Torre  del  Orologio,  15 
Verona,  i.  262 — 302 

Accademia  Filarmonica,  280 
Amphitheatre,  299 
Arco  dei  Borsari,  285 
del  Leone,  299 
Baptistery,  288 
Castel  S.  Felice,  290 
S.  Pietro,  289 
Vecchio,  280 
Cathedral,  286 
Churches —  - 
S.  Anastasia,  268 
Bernardino,  281 
Elena,  288 
Eufemia,  285 
Fermo  Maggiore,  297 
Giorgio  in  Braida,  291 
Giovanni  in  Fonte,  288 
in  Valle,  291 
Maria  Antica,  272 

della  Campagna,  300 
Matricolare,  286 
in  Organo,  292 
Nazzaro  e  Celso,  293 


INDEX. 


Verona — contin  ued. 

S.  Pietro  Martire,  269 
Siro,  291 
Stefano,  290 
Tommaso    Cantuariense, 

292 
Zeno,  281 
Gardens — 
Giusti,  293 

of  the  Orfanotrofio,  299 
House  of  Giolfino,  285 
Museo  Civico,  295 

Lapidario,  280 
Oratorio  di  S.  2fenone,  284 
Palaces — 
Bevilacqua,  285 
Canossa,  285 
Cappelletti,  299 
del  Consiglio,  271 
Giusti,  293 
della  Guardia,  280 
Maffei,  278 
Pompei,  295 
Portalupi,  285 
,       Piazza  Bra,  279 

della  Erbe,  278 
Navona,  271 
dei  Signori,  270 
Pinacoteca,  295 
Ponte  Acqua  Morta,  298 
Castello,  280 
delle  Navi,  297 
Nuovo,  292 
Pietra,  289 
Porta  Stuppa,  280 
Tombs- 
Count  of  Castelbarco,  268 
The  Scaligers,  272 
Vescovado,  288 
Walls,  300 
Viareggio,  i.  73 
Vicenza,  i.  321 — 333 
Basilica,  325 
Casa  di  Palladio,  327 
Pigafetta,  325 
di  Ricovero,  330 
Cathedral,  324 
Churches — 
S.  Corona,  326 
S.  Lorenzo,  330 
S.  Maria  al  Monte,  331 


Vicenza — con  tin  ued. 
S.  Pietro,  330 
S.  Stefano,  326 
Museo  Civico,  328 
Palazzo — 
Barbarano,  331 
Chiericati,  328 
Conte  Porto  al  Castello,  324 
Loschi,  325 
Porto,  331 
della  Ragione,  325 
Annibale  Tiene,  325 
Marc  Antonio  Tiene,  331 
Valmarana,  331 
Rotonda  Capra,  332 
Teatro  Olimpico,  330 
Torre  del  Orologio,  325 
Villa  Valmarana,  332 
Villa  Carlotia,  i.  194 
d'Este,  i.  193 
Melzi,  i.  196 
Pizzo,  i.  193 
Pliniana,  i.  193 
Villafranca,  i.  302 
Villanuova,  i.  321 
Villar,  i.  104 
Vmchiana,  ii.  504 
Voghera,  ii.  185 
Vogogna,  i.  210 
Volterra,  ii.  483 — 489 
Baize,  le,  488 
Baptistery,  487 
Buciie  dei  Saracini,  489 
Cathedral,  486 
Churches — 
S.  Agostino,  488 
S.  Francesco,  488 
S.  Michele,  488 
S.  Sah'atore,  488 
Etruscan  Museum,  485 
I  Marmini,  489 
Palazzo  Communale,  485 
Porta  del  Arco,  484 
di  Diana,  489 
Villa  Inghirami,  489 
Voltri,  i.  27 
Vorazze,  i.  27 

W. 
Waldenses,  the,  i.  96 — 107 


JOHN   CHILDS  AND  SON,   PRINTERS. 


Bg  tje  same  ^utjjor^ 


WALKS  IN  ROME. 

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of  its  stores." — Spectator. 

"  Since  the  publication  of  '  Castilian  Days,"  by  the  American  diplomat, 
Mr  John  Hay,  no  pleasanter  or  more  readable  sketches  have  fallen  under  our 
notice." — Athenaum. 


DALDY,  ISBISTER  &  CO.,  56,   LUDGATE  HILL,  E.C. 


Bs  tjje  same  ^utftor. 

MEMORIALS  OF  A  QUIET 
LIFE. 

WITH  TWO  STEEL  PORTRAITS. 
Twelfth  Edition.     Two  Vols.,  Crown  8vo,  2js. 

' '  The  name  of  Hare  is  one  deservedly  to  be  honoured  ;  and  in  these 
'  Memorials,'  which  are  as  true  and  satisfactory  a  biography  as  it  is  pos- 
sible to  write,  the  author  places  his  readers  in  the  heart  of  the  family, 
and  allows  them  to  see  the  hidden  sources  of  life  and  love  by  which  it 
was  nourished  and  sustained." — Atheticzum. 

"  One  of  those  books  which  it  is  impossible  to  read  without  pleasure. 
It  conveys  a  sense  of  repose  not  unlike  that  which  everybody  must  have 
felt  out  of  service  time  in  quiet  little  village  churches.  Its  editor  will 
receive  the  hearty  thanks  of  every  cultivated  reader  for  these  profoundly 
interesting  '  Memorials  '  of  two  brothers,  whose  names  and  labours  their 
universities  and  church  have  alike  reason  to  cherish  with  affection  and 
remember  with  pride,  who  have  smoothed  the  path  of  faith  to  so  many 
troubled  wayfarers,  strengthening  the  weary  and  confirming  the  weak." 
— Standard. 

"  The  book  is  rich  in  insight  and  in  contrast  of  character.  It  is  varied 
and  full  of  episodes,  which  few  can  fail  to  read  with  interest ;  and  as 
exhibiting  the  sentiments  and  thoughts  of  a  very  influential  circle  of 
minds  during  a  quarter  of  a  century,  it  may  be  said  to  have  a  distinct 
historical  value. "  — Nonconformist. 

"A  charming  book,  simply  and  gracefully  recording  the  events  of  a 
simple  and  gracious  life.  Its  connection  with  the  beginning  of  a  great 
movement  in  the  English  Church  will  make  it  to  the  thoughtful  reader 
more  profoundly  suggestive  than  many  biographies  crowded  and  bustling 
with  incident.  It  is  almost  the  first  of  a  class  of  books  the  Christian 
world  just  now  greatly  needs,  as  showing  how  the  spiritual  life  was 
maintained  amid  the  shaking  of  religious  '  opinions ' ;  how  the  life  of 
the  soul  deepened  as  the  thoughts  of  the  mind  broadened  ;  and  how,  in 
their  union,  the  two  formed  a  volume  of  larger  and  more  thoroughly 
vitalized  Christian  idea  than  the  English  people  had  witnessed  for  many 
days." — Glasgow  Herald. 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   SUPPLEMENTARY  VOLUME  OF 

MEMORIALS  OF  A  QUIET 
LIFE. 

With  57  Photographs,  illustrating  by  Portraits  and  Views  the  previous 
Volumes.     Crown  8vo. 


DALDY,  ISBISTER  &  CO.,  56,   LUDGATE  HILL.     E.G. 


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